Star Lounge Coffee Bar

Up front, everything is delivered with a smile, and not that fake kind of I-hate-my-job-but-at-least-I'm-employed-somewhere smile, but with genuine enthusiasm for the product. In addition, this place is not only a great place to get coffee, but they are also a small coffee roaster with big ideas. It's their dedication to the little details that really makes a difference. These attributes really set them apart from the average coffee spot in Chicagoland.

The Star Lounge Coffee Bar is a local coffee house committed to its community and the people of the Ukrainian Village/Humboldt park area. They take pride in roasting their own coffee, and are truly passionate about their craft.

This is one of those beginnings where a person built on their passion for others to appreciate. There was a time when Jesse Diaz started roasting beans in a $7 popcorn popper. Now today, in a room above his Ukrainian Village coffee shop, Star Lounge, Diaz roasts small batches of Dark Matter coffee in a larger version of the same thing--an air roaster that he feels yields greater nuances (like peanut butter flavors in his Indian Robusta-Ethiopian Harrar-Sumatra Mandheling blend).

Sounds like solid ingenuity and innovation to me.

Zealous devotion to coffee is not a fresh concept for Chicago. But Diaz's encyclopedic knowledge along with meticulous oversight of the entire process--from bean sourcing, to roasting, to choosing the right brewing method (Star Lounge employs at least four)--makes Dark Matter some of the city's geekiest creations.

And an aspirational point; Diaz's goal is to eliminate the middleman and get all his beans directly from farmers for production. He hopes to head to El Salvador and establish agriculture contacts while visiting plants being grown especially for his endeavors. Then it would be on to Guatemala in search of new farmer relationships (and exciting bean variations).

Bags of Dark Matter coffee are always available at Star Lounge, but there's no set menu of offerings. It usually changes by season--even by week--because, as Diaz is fond of saying, "Coffee's too complex of a substance to make concrete rules."

Coffee drinkers need a true form of variation. The industry can benefit from innovation that turns on a dime in the coffee industry. Sure, memorizing the drink menu at a local franchise is comforting to some, but there are so many others that welcome the fresh approach of Dark Matter and the Star Lounge. You guys are the independents that ultimately end up fueling the playing field. Hats off to you.

As a cap, they also offer a bottomless cup if you're sitting down. Nice.

Website
www.starloungecoffee.com
www.darkmattercoffee.com

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Dennis S., 10-13-2010 9:54 PM

Good atmosphere, good attitude, good coffee.

Packed when I stopped by early afternoon, half the patrons were settled in with their laptops and free WiFi connections. The place is a converted bar, still with a neighborhood bar atmosphere. It all works, driven by the no-hassle attitude of the staff. Comfortable, cozy, and crowded with classic cracking-good coffee.

A word of warning - their "large" coffees are really, really large.

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