The Thinking Cup Blog

Boston may not be referred to as “Beantown” because of the city’s love of coffee, but given its extensive and ardent relationship with a good cup of joe, perhaps it’s time things changed. Believe it or not, Boston’s relationship with coffee dates all the way back to the 1600s, when Dorothy Jones of Boston was issued the first license to sell coffee according to several sources. In fact, The Boston Tea Party was planned back in 1773 in the Green Dragon—a coffee house. As you can see, Bostonians love their coffee and as a result, most find themselves on a...

For those new to the concept of Third Wave Coffee, you may wonder what it really means. Pulitzer Prize winning food critic Jonathan Gold said the following on this subject back in March of 2008, “The first wave of American coffee culture was probably the 19th-century surge that put Folgers on every table, and the second was the proliferation, starting in the 1960s at Peet's and moving smartly through the Starbucks grande decaf latte, of espresso drinks and regionally labeled coffee. We are now in the third wave of coffee connoisseur-ship, where beans are sourced from farms instead of countries, roasting is about bringing out rather than incinerating the unique characteristics of each bean, and the flavor is clean and hard and pure.

Stumptown Coffee has received a lot of buzz over the years in the coffee industry for its unique practices and stellar quality. First brought to Boston by Thinking Cup, located on Tremont St, it is arguably the best coffee in Boston.

While the coffee speaks for itself, getting to know a bit more about this unique coffee roaster can only leave one with a greater appreciation for the beans, growers and roasters behind them.