NYC Mugged - Exploring all the best coffee in New York City

Pro-tip:  A $4.75 tall cup of Starbucks Reserve Jamaica Blue Mountain brewed by hand in a Clover machine tastes exactly like every other cup of coffee they make.

Iced coffee for “Ben.” At least they make good coffee…

http://starbucksspelling.tumblr.com/

Have you seen today’s Groupon deal for New York City? Jezalin’s Gifts in the Limelight Marketplace is offering a cup of “rare Kopi Luwak Arabica Coffee” for $10. That’s right. Ten bucks for one cup of coffee that they list as a $29.99 value. Which means, by my powers of extrapolation, that this gift shop I’ve never heard of in one of New York’s most storied drug dens of yore normally offers a $30 cup of coffee on their menu, certainly an enticing proposition for the tourist set. I would go on about the craziness of that price point, but our web host is charging us by the bold tag here at NYC Mugged and I have a few more points to cover.

Now, as any good coffee nerd knows, Kopi Luwak is made from the beans of coffee berries that pass through the digestive tract of the Asian Palm Civet, a small Malaysian animal that is arguably the world’s foremost coffee connoisseur. I’m not sure who first thought it would be a good idea to make coffee out of rodent poop, but, hey, oysters happened, too, and that’s not a bet I would have staked. My question is: where do you draw the line on what you’ll pay for “rare” coffee? I’m seriously considering forking over my lazily-earned scratch to sample what may as well be a cup of unicorn tears for all its verifiability. And why should I buy it from a shop that also sells sports gift baskets? Isn’t this a job for Cafe Grumpy or Stumptown, two esteemed local coffee joints whose beans I will happily pay $15 for 3/4 of a pound? That’s 20-something cups for half the price of one half cup of normally priced Kopi Luwak at Jezalin’s Gifts. So, then — is this a journey worth taking, or do you ignore it on general principle?

Would you pay $30 for one cup of coffee? $10? Will you buy today’s Groupon deal?

Dora just opened in the Lower East Side in December, and has already lined up an informal weekly cupping and will play host to their first (of what will hopefully be an ongoing series) latte art throw down. Head over this Thursday, February 17th to join in on the fun. Sign up starts at 7, pouring commences at 8, and with a $5 entry fee, liquids will be provided.

I haven’t had a chance to make it over yet (it’s been too cold!), but seeing Alice Gao‘s amazing photos, it looks like Dora is indeed, quite a-Dora-ble. Hopefully I’ll be in attendance this Thursday.