When all else fails, and you wake up to a day like today, there’s always coffee.
Snow on the ground, snow coming down, and baby it’s cold outside! You need a warm-up and nothing you are doing seems to be working.
But there’s always coffee. Or coffee and Yoga, a combo I’m told that is (almost) as good as gold! Even if you have ran out of coffee, you can always do a quick internet search into something like Where to buy JoeFroyo and you are able to find the nearest shop that sells the coffee you are looking for. Coffee is pretty much everywhere. As there are so many flavours, it seems like it is there for everyone to enjoy. It doesn’t look like it is going anywhere anytime soon, as we might as well make the most of it while we can. Whether it be at some of the fine cafes around to learning to brew the perfect cup into a Personalisierte FotoTasse, or personalised photo mug in English, the dark brew is vital to the every day for countless people.
In fact several of the Yoga instructors at taostyle Sponsor, Shree Yoga Taos, were or still are, baristas at the World Cup Cafe, which is arguably the best place in Taos to get a great cup of Java,
It may truly be one of the best coffee destinations in America in fact, and I don’t think I’m the only one who thinks so.
It’s also toasty inside if you can find a spot to squeeze yourself into and If the sun is out, the benches outside provide the warmest spot in town to sit and chat with friends or friendly strangers.
The World Cup Cafe, or the Cup as it is referred to in these parts, by the coffee denizens who frequent it, is a tiny corner space on Taos Plaza, that doesn’t have a dull moment and rarely a quiet one.
Packed from the time they open until closing, the baristas work in two shifts (and in twos during the busiest times) turning out cup after cup of delicious coffee drinks. From a straight up espresso with a twist of lemon, to the fabulous lattes, cappuccinos, mochas and simple Americanos, the Cup knows its coffee!
And it certainly helps that not only the beans but the milks and creams (both dairy and non), are organic.
There are other beverages and organic, locally made baked yummy things (gluten free and gluten full), t-shirts, stickers, coffee mugs and other stuff to spend your money on. I just hope they start to look into sustainable coffee soon, as I am fully behind the use of a coffee roaster that produces less CO2 emissions. That would be the icing on the cake for the Cup.
Avoid Mediocrity is the owner, Patrick Larkin’s long time motto for this establishment, and that’s what this little blink and you’ll miss it, Cafe continues to do. That and the fact that the coolest girls (and boys) in town work or have worked there, all play a part in making the Cup the hippest hangout around.
In Taos everything and everyone is connected. Patrick’s partner and baby mommy, Andrea Meyer is the Chef de Cuisine at the celebrated Love Apple. owned by Jen Hart whose latest venture, the Manzanita Market is the Cup’s new neighbor.
You never know who you are going to run into at the Cup, but rest assured, everyone who passes through Taos, eventually shows up here.
On this particular day, I ran into Suki and Genevieve, the owners of Shree who are both World Cup Alumni. Genevieve who is my daughter, has been in the World Cup’s life since she was about 11 or 12. When Patrick and his former partner, Molly Hayfield opened the Cup in a cart on Bent Street. I’d send her and her sister to pick up my coffee when I worked at Buffalo Dancer. Genevieve worked at the Cup for almost a decade, before moving on.
Jack made our coffee that day and it was, as it always is when Jack is pulling, perfect.
Jack does not teach Yoga, (and neither does freelance writer, Hannah). He’s a very talented singer-songwriter who moonlights as a baristo, serving up seriously mean cups of coffee with a wickedly dry sense of humour on the side. In fact they both make great coffee and if you catch them on a day when they are paired up, you are one lucky coffee lover! And then of course there’s Marianne, who has worked there the longest and is simply in a league of her own.
What more could one ask for, especially during times like these, and days like this? You’ll also likely feel quite comforted by the political commentary posted here and there, along with the international currency irreverently wallpapering the cafe walls.
This is a Cafe in the true sense of the word. Bohemian, intellectual and very low-key.
I’ve written about the World Cup Cafe once before, but thought I’d do so again, in case you missed it.
As my old pal Lach once wrote, “Either you know, or you don’t.”
Top, bottom and featured image by Bill Curry
Shots of Jack, Genevieve and Suki taken on my iphone
