If I’m going to a city I’m unfamiliar with an expect to have time, I’ll search coffeegeek.com or toomuchcoffee.com and see if there’s anything worth checking out in the area.

Or, if I’m going to a city with a coffee scene I’m familiar with, like London, I’ll just head straight there first chance I get! Nothing like Fernandez and Wells or Flat White in London.

Also, my standard route from my house to IAH takes me by Houston’s best cafe, Catalina Coffee.

I personally can’t stand the liquid charcoal Starbucks sells as coffee. I’ll drink it if I have to just to get going in the morning, but only then. I carry a hand grinder, collapsible filter cone and immersion boiler with me on trips so I can make a good cup with fresh beans in my hotel.