M. Suzanne Terry

(Coffee art from Art Six)

“Can we all just take off work for a month or two and travel cross country trying these delicious coffee shops?? PLEASE?! Life made.”

“YES.”

“I’m not even joking. New photo series/blog idea!”

“ Indeed. I would have to save up to travel to all these places. But I could do a blog series on coffee shops. You could do a blog series on coffee shops. We could guest post on each other’s blogs…I could host people telling about their favorite coffee shops where they live. I’m very excited about this!!!  Do you want to guest post?”

And that’s how it started.

(Ethiopian coffee from Queen of Sheba in Addison)

This idea probably should have occurred to me before now, but it took the post from Stefanie (who has an entire blog on the subject and thus is automatically my favorite blog to follow) on my Facebook wall to inspire it.  So Stefanie – I’m going to add to our list.

Best.  Road Trip(s).  Ever.

On Friday, April 25, I am going to start a series of guest posts about coffee shops across the country (or world…because I will fly for coffee).

And I’m inviting you to be a part of it.

(Nichole Latte from Bochy’s)

Here are the guidelines for guest posts:

1. Write a post about your favorite local (i.e., where you live) coffee shop.  It can be multiple shops, because as a lover and frequenter of multiple shops myself, I would never ask you to choose.  It can also be about tea shops, because while I am snobby about coffee, I also love tea (and I am going to write a love letter to Denton’s Amitea and include it). It can also be about a restaurant that makes an amazing coffee (observe the Nichole Latte from Bochy’s Bistro, pictured above), because sadly, road trippers cannot live by coffee alone.
2. I prefer that you don’t send me posts about chains (although I offer some leeway for local-ish chains, like Cafe Brazil in the DFW area).  We all know that we can walk into any Starbucks worldwide and get the same mediocre experience/drink.  We don’t need to read about it.
3. A special place in my heart and tear ducts is reserved for shops that sell coffee that is fairly traded, locally roasted, and/or organic. But if your favorite shop doesn’t (or doesn’t advertise it), I’m not going to hold that against it.
4. Feel free to include a picture of your coffee, or of you enjoying your coffee, or of friends enjoying their coffee (basically any picture that goes with the words you are writing).  Pictures are not required, but I like them.  If you want the picture to appear at a certain point in the post, be sure to clarify where you want it.  Otherwise, I’m gonna do what I want.
5. I am not super picky about word count, but if you need a guideline, shoot for somewhere between 300-1500 words.  I know that’s a huge range, but I also know that some people might be more picture-intensive, while others are text-intensive, and both styles are valued here.
6. As far as content goes, I’m going to be pretty clear that these are not my words, so feel free to write however you write on your own blog. Having said that, I have never hosted a series before, so I’m not sure what I will receive from The Interwebs, and I have some minor anxiety about it. Therefore, I will issue a blanket statement that I reserve the right not to post everything that I’m sent and leave it at that.
7. You don’t have to maintain your own blog in order to participate.  All I need is for you to email the following things to coffeesnob@gmail.com.

• Your post (.doc or .rtf or .txt files only, please)
• A short (100-ish words) bio, which can include a link to your blog if you do have one
• A picture of you to go with your bio (optional)

(probably a pour-over – my drink of choice at Seven Mile Coffee)

To start with, this series will run every Friday until forever (or until I stop having things to post). If posts start to pile up – i.e., if I end up with so many posts that it would take four months to post them weekly and WOULDN’T THAT BE WONDERFUL? – I will also offer them on Mondays, which is when I need coffee the most.

*As I hope for this to be an eternal, ongoing series, there is no actual deadline.  But if you need one, let’s just say May 31, because I can talk about coffee in Denton and the DFW area for a while, but even I will run out of things to say eventually.

*UPDATE:  The original deadline of May 31 is fast approaching, but I’m having so much fun, and I have a lot more places to go see.  So I’m extending the call for guest posts as well.  To heck with the deadline – tell me about your coffee shop!