There’s no such thing as “truly great”. At one end of the spectrum, of course, there’s overcooked diner and gas station glop from the Bunn-O-Matic. In the mid

There’s no such thing as “truly great”. At one end of the spectrum, of course, there’s overcooked diner and gas station glop from the Bunn-O-Matic. In the middle of the bell curve is more-or-less drinkable stuff, whether from the Dunky or Peet or the mermaid place or my personal favorite, Mickey Dee’s, which really came up nicely a decade ago once they stopped melting old ladies’ thighs and realized they could make money with it. But at the “great” tail of the curve there’s a problem. Variety. You might prefer a hypertangy Sightglass espresso 3.5, but to me, that’s not the espresso I’m looking for. I want a warm and toasty old school Tazza d’Oro. My naughty secret is that the mer-people make an OK espresso with their roasty beans, but have you ever seen someone order that there?