COFFEE CULTURE, ANCHORAGE STYLE By M A R A S E V E R I N
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ven the hardiest Alaskans need a coping mechanism or two to help us through the long winter: sun lamps, blackout curtains, aromatherapy. You name it, we’ve probably tried it. And, sure, long walks and Vitamin D are great, but have you tried coffee? One thing many Alaskans rely on is year-round coffee therapy. A hot, frothy cappuccino, sipped in a cozy café, can be the perfect cure for the lowwinter-sun blues. Or, skip the trudge through a snowy parking lot and pick up a hot brew from one of Anchorage’s many drive-thru coffee carts. Sip smugly in your warm car. Caffeinated pick-me-ups are no less valuable in summer when Alaskans are burning the candle at both ends. After all, if the sun never goes down, is it ever really bedtime? Which is why Alaska’s coffee roasters are household names to the locals. There’s Kaladi Brothers, which grew from a lone espresso cart in 1984 to a burgeoning business with 16 stores around the state (and one in Seattle). There is SteamDot Coffee Co., whose Midtown café features a “slow bar” with a rotating menu of origin coffees, where your coffee is ground and brewed fresh to order. And then there’s Black Cup Coffee — they serve a full menu of espresso drinks but their motto, as their name implies, is: “Extraordinary coffee best served black.” Undecided? Head over to Sip Coffee Lounge where you can order a coffee flight of coffees featuring both Kaladi Brothers and Black Cup brews. It’s a friendly battle of the beans. Everyone has their favorite, but each of these coffee purveyors enjoys a well-earned popularity. But coffee can be as much about café culture as it is about beans. A good coffee house is part community center, part
VISITORS’ GUIDE •
2022 —
ALASKA
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