Café Jumping Bean on 18th Street (near Laflin) in Pilsen has a lock on deliciousness.  Both of these thumbs are up.  Last time I was there, I had a scrumptious sandwich and (my joint) cafe con leche.  Sigh.

The only other café I feel at home at is Istria café (at Hyde Park Art Center, 50th & Cornell).  They make a Latte…..Double Sigh.  Not to mention the gelato.  Got hooked on both while taking a Screenprinting class at HPAC.

I lied.  I really dig Little Black Pearl and Bronzeville Coffee House (528 E. 43rd St.), too  [ Especially Bronzeville’s book exchange, and those muffins…].

There’s a song by Otis Redding called “Cigarettes and Coffee”:

It’s early in the morning

About a quarter til Three

I’m sittin’ here talkin’ with my baby

over cigarettes and coffee….

I’ve never smoked, but that song made me believe in the common luxury of both.  Remember when, if visiting someone’s house, the cupboards may have been bare…but they’d still offer you some coffee (even instant).  That’s why Starbucks bugs me.  It’s not just the “corporate cog” issue.  It’s the “make something as basic as coffee into a status symbol” issue.  Not cool.

“Coffee and Cigarettes” is also a film directed by Jim Jarmusch.  Here’s a clip, featuring GZA, RZA, and Bill Murray:

I’ll leave you with some (disjointed) words I inadvertently memorized in high school:

It is with the bitter lives

Of bitter people
that I sweeten my coffee
on this beautiful morning
in Ipanema

–Fierreira Gullar