Bean Hunting

One of us is a coffee snob, doesn't like drinking it out of the plastic lid on a take away cup and has been known to buy a flat white, sip it and walk right to a bin and slam dunk it. I'll let you guess who that is. But a need to find a good coffee gives you even more motivation to check out cool cafe spots when traveling.

Our Palermo morning routine started by rolling out of bed for a quick wake up coffee before going back up to our Airbnb, changing and heading to the gym. This was mostly because our body clocks were so screwed up by jet lag that we were awake at stupid hours of the morning when most of Latin America is still sleeping. The only coffee shop open was the hotel breakfast bar across the street. This pour was not quite a flat white, but a cafe' con leche that no matter how many extra shots just didn't do the flavour trick. Luckily there is a bit of help from the App world called BeanHunter and it really paid off. We tried Felix, Felicis & Co, Cigalo Specialty Coffee, Full City Coffeehouse, Cafe Registrado, Lab Training Center and Coffee Shop and found the one closest to us, three blocks away had the best: Lattente Espresso Bar. Others had better service, but for flavour and being able to quietly sip away as a recovery from gym time, this was it.

Of course the current coffee styles like a flat white or a "mochachino" at one point didn't exist. Getting back to a shot of espresso, cafe au lait, cafe' con leche, or coffee and steamed milk no matter what time of the morning does bring you back to the basics - in a good way. I'll be ready when Beanhunter doesn't deliver.