Star Lounge: Guatemala Blend
If you’ve followed Vinyl for any sort of time, you’d know that we’re huge fans of coffee. Hell, Kevin Porter is part of our crew and his reputation for loving coffee is one that is starting to rival that of his skills on a bike…that being said, we’ve all been in and out of different coffee shops and tried countless different types (minus art director David Leep), so it’s a perfect time to start doing a series highlighting some of the best shops and blends we run across in our life and our travels. Our first candidate: Star Lounge and their Guatemala blend.
Star Lounge is located on the west side of Chicago in the Ukrainian Village neighborhood. I was turned onto this joint by frequent visitor to the shop and our good friend, Brian Kachinsky. While he hasn’t exactly built a reputation for drinking coffee, BK is an avid coffee fan and definitely knows what’s up when it comes to a quality cup of joe…seeing as this is his local shop, you can bet that the coffee is good. After having a couple of cups at the shop, I decided to head up to the counter to grab a pound of coffee for home use.
The baristas at the counter were more than happy to help out with my purchase, which ended up being a Guatemala blend; a medium roast a hair on the light side, totaling in around thirteen bucks. For a pound of premium coffee, I found this to be a very fair price, especially when you consider that they roast their own coffee upstairs, above the day to day operations of the shop. Kachinsky actually got to watch them roast some coffee from scratch one day, but that’s another story… After a week of heavy coffee sessions each morning, I can vouch that the description and recommendation of the staff was spot on, and the coffee was absolutely delicious.
If you’re interested in premium coffee and haven’t ever checked out Star Lounge before, I’d highly recommend heading over to Star Lounge and getting a cup. Their prices are more than fair (bottomless cup for three bucks, anyone?) and the baristas are great. The interior has a good feel with lots of natural light towards the back, and there’s usually always a place to sit, with good music and nice art on the walls. Can’t wait to try it out? Take a trip over to 2521 West Chicago Avenue in Chicago and see what the place is like for yourself…maybe you’ll even come home with a bag or two or three.
For more information, check out the Star Lounge website.
along with this series of coffee shops maybe we could get a list of each Vinyl Crew members favorite type of coffee drink; e.g. a regular cup of coffee, espresso, latte, etc.