Spilling the beans: Secrets to great coffee

JACQUELINE NOCHISAKI, The Saratogian

SARATOGA SPRINGS -- 'Just breeeeathe it in, breathe in deep,' he instructs, motioning deep breaths over a steaming Styrofoam cup of blueberry-flavored coffee -- black. 'Smell it? Taste it?' Blueberry steam wafted around the little table in South Broadway's Dunkin' Donuts as The Saratogian sat down to chat over coffee with renown food expert and NBC's 'Today' show food trends editor, Phil Lempert of Los Angeles.

The little shop is a soapbox for Lempert, who conducts a flavor taste test while spilling the beans about our love affair with coffee. He's drawn an audience; those watching from nearby tables realize this is not their everyday caffeine fix. Calling for beans, grinds and rounds in the latest flavors, Lempert denounces anything but straight-up black coffee.

'People like to play with their food. They love to be involved. I was the first person 22 years ago that said Starbucks would fail,' he conceded. 'Why would someone want expensive, burned coffee?'

Ah, but they weren't going for the coffee, he realized.

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