In this current time, I'm still writing my blog, though at times it seems odd because though I can do posts remotely, I usually like whenever possible to travel and visit and talk and take photographs, but the other day I did a play on Zoom, something that I never thought I'd ever have the slightest interest in doing, and though it was a challenge, at this point who knows when things will ever get back to the way we used to do them, so I'm forging ahead wherever and whenever I can to keep at least plugging along in creative endeavors and trying to encourage other people that we can and we will make it through this to a better and brighter day.
So I found myself this past week thinking that this was as good a time as any to write about City Of Saints, and though I never did make it out to their Bushwick Cafe, I do still have the lovely memories of their time at Antique Bar & Bakery, and my first delighted impressions of the quality of their coffee then. As a company, they have a mission to be not only sustainable but also to be good neighbors and colleagues and to be community minded, and in a way that's what my blog and my work is about too. As people who know me know, I only write about people and companies and products I truly believe in, and I also try as much as possible to support the people I write about in whatever way I can and to invest my time and efforts in developing relationships that can last and help build community.
My first impression of City Of Saints was of course tinted through the rosy colored glasses that accompany anything that Chef Paul Gerard, a Partner and the Executive Chef of Antique Bar & Bakery does. I know that he allows only the highest quality ingredients and products to be a part of his restaurant, and so I knew that the coffee would be excellent. But something else happened when I tasted it - I was reminded of coffee that I hadn't had in years and that I'd been searching for. When I lived in Manhattan, I used to buy my coffee at a store named Jefferson Market on 6th Avenue between 9th and 10th Streets in the West Village. I loved that coffee so much that I broke it down into how much it cost per day by figuring out the number of pots of espresso I could make out of it because I wanted to justify the added expense in my very tight budget at the time. I usually had their espresso or their French roast, but I also would buy different kinds from time to time to add a little variety to my morning. Jefferson Market closed about ten years ago, and I've been looking for coffee even remotely as good ever since, and when I tasted City of Saints coffee that first day at Antique Bar & Bakery, it reminded me of one of the Kenyan coffees that I had gotten all those years ago. It turns out that it was a similar roast, and that got me thinking back to the first time I had ever started buying my own coffee, when I was at school in Pittsburgh for two years when I first went to college. There was a little shop there in an area called Shadyside which is also the real life home of Mr. Rogers. During those two years I bought all my coffee there and a beautiful ceramic coffee maker with matching cups too, and a friend of mine always insists that it's my cups that make my coffee so good. I think they do, but I also know that it's the coffee that goes into them, and even in a paper to go cup City Of Saints tastes like a hands down winner to me. Their cups are lovely too, a beautiful blue, and if you're lucky enough to stop by in person, they'll make a little artwork to grace your heavenly brew.
And In 2018 At A Pop Up Cafe
At Antique Bar & Bakery
At Antique Bar & Bakery
122 Willow Avenue
Hoboken, New Jersey
Chef Paul Gerard
Executive Chef And Partner
Of Antique Bar & Bakery
Discussing Pastry Selections
With The Restaurant Pastry Chef
And The Staff Of City Of Saints
Photographs Courtesy Of Ricardo Vallejo
Blessings,
Jannie Susan
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