By: Chad Matkowski, Owner of GrounDiego
Editor and Co-Contributor: Katie Matkowski, Co-Owner of GrounDiego
Welcome to my blog, “San Diego with a Coffee”.
Why San Diego?
I have been San Diegan most of my life. I have lived and loved this city since I was a young child. I have been passionate about this community and cherish its diversity. It really is America’s Finest.
For almost as long as I have loved San Diego, I have also loved coffee. It has been fueling my mornings and activities most of my adult life. With the craft market in coffee here in San Diego growing exponentially, I wanted to combine my loves and share my experiences, as well as make recommendations, on what you can do in San Diego with a Coffee.
This blog “SD With a Coffee”, is designed to inspire you, give you updates and information on various location and events in San Diego where coffee can be the star, supplement, or even contribute to your experiences in San Diego. Consider it an insider’s guide for both locals and visitors alike.
I currently own a company called GrounDiego. At GrounDiego it is our goal to explore San Diego and all it has to offer in the craft coffee market and share it with our subscribers. If you are interested in tasting coffee from all over San Diego, you can learn more or subscribe at GrounDiego.com.
Reviews of Coffee
Despite my deep love of coffee and being an avid consumer, I can’t claim to be an expert or a Q Grader. However occasionally, in addition to recommendations, I will be reviewing the coffee with the help of our subscribers at GrounDiego based on 5 main factors: Sweetness, Body, Acidity, Flavors, and Finish.
Score for Sweetness, Body, Acidity, and Finish are scored from a 1 to 5. These are not the rank of whether I enjoyed or not but the flavor profile. 1 being a low value and 5 being the highest value. Here is a great article from the outstanding roasters over at Blue Bottle Coffee if you wish to learn more about these profiles:
Additionally, for our GrounDiego and blog reviews we are adding a few of our own “non-professional” categories. They will have a not, low, moderate, and highly recommended level. They are:
Black Coffee for Normies: If you are not normally a black coffee drinker, this category is for you. Whether you still have traumatic memories of stale convenience store coffee at 1am (guilty) or you have been scared off by bitterness (a common side effect of over roasted beans) be afraid no longer. Consider this an approachability scale for dipping your toe back in the black coffee waters.
Pairs with Savory: Our first of two pairing rankings. While I’ll be the first to argue that coffee goes with everything, this category determines which coffees are better suited to paring with a savory option (think bacon, quiches, eggs, and cheeses).
Dunkability: Everyone knows the simple bliss of dunking a sweet treat in coffee. This second pairing category ranks how well sweeter treats, such as donuts, pastries, or pan dulce, pair with the coffee.