New Sebastians in Kendall; and about black coffee by jgn on Friday, September 28, 2007 in Kendall Square
Wow, there's another new restaurant in Kendall Square; I guess the tech economy is overheated! It's a Sebastians. No apostrophe. Wonder why they do that. Anyway they serve salads and crêpes. But they call them crepes. I guess spelling is not their strong suit. If only it had been a Wagamama's.
In any case, I have a ritual with new restaurants that are open in the morning. I order a cup of black coffee in the mildest roast they have. I have been drinking black coffee since I was 14. When you drink a lot of black coffee, you tend to want a mild roast. When coffee when upscale/European in big American cities in the 80s (before going nationwide in the 90s), the roasts became much darker because European coffee styles, except for espresso, usually have milk. So the dark roast is ok because the coffee is diluted.
But if you drink a lot of black coffee, that won't work. (Why won't it work? You will kill your stomach. Your breath will become noxious. But do what you want, I'm not your mother.)
In Boston, the only chains that really understand this are Dunkin' Donuts and Au Bon Pain. All of the Dunkin' coffee is pretty mild, and ABP has something called Morning Blend. Outside of Boston, Tim Horton's is good, too, but you have to drive to Rhode Island (or Canada!) for that, at least for now.
Sebastians's milder roast is ok. Too roasted for my taste, but it might do in a pinch. The bad ones are Starbucks and Rebecca's. Their mildest coffees pretty much require milk.
