May 22, 2013

Misplaced Dislike

A great deal of the criticism directed at specialty coffee seems predicated on the size of the community, and the aesthetic of its members. That is, for most people, plain coffee is good enough coffee, origin be damned. Those who feel otherwise, whose pallets are either more attuned or tricked by some false notion of superior taste, are a vocal minority. The criticisms also feel the need to note how the baristas look, rattling off a few tropes that roughly conform to "skinny hipster" stereotypes. I've joked about many of these before, since I knowingly embody many of them; I have floppy bangs and a substantial arsenal of both skinny black jeans and black shirts.

It should go without saying, but this is spectacularly stupid. Like, really, really fucking stupid.

This is not to say that us coffee dorks are necessarily right, simply because we exist. An argument or opinion is not inherently self justifying; it's mere existence does not prove that it should exist. But the inverse is equally true; our existence does not disprove our argument.

My solution: Like good coffee or don't; but try it on its own terms, without judgement rendered based on the kind of person you imagine drinks the stuff. If you like it, cool. Wear whatever pants you like. No need for moccasins or Chuck Taylor's either. If you don't like it, cool. But don't be a dick about it, then turn around and criticize the perceived dickishness of those who do. That is, I repeat, really fucking stupid. Don't be really fucking stupid.

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