I like the coffee at Trader Joe’s. Either the Bay Blend (which doesn’t seem to come in decaf anymore) or the French Roast (which does). I’ve been up and down the coffee road — everything from mail-ordering Peet’s to going out of my way to pay $16/lb for Intelligensia beans. Beyond liking Trader Joe’s coffee, I like that there is no attitude.

I will admit that the best latte I’ve ever had was at Intelligensia, but there’s something about how they say, “Have you had our lattes?” when I ask for no foam that I’m tired of. My gosh — if someone is about to hand over $4 for a cup of coffee, shouldn’t she be able to forgo the foam without a pretentious response? Let her commit coffee heresy without publicizing it to the whole line of uncaffeinated, waiting customers. In response I say, “I have had your lattes many times.” They say no more, but there is a silent smugness that follows.

Then there was my brother-in-law’s experience in which he foolishly asked the counter person at Intelligensia in Los Angeles to grind a pound of beans and received a cross-examination about when exactly he would be using those beans. Apparently if he wasn’t planning on drinking that pound of coffee in the fifteen minutes or so after buying the beans, he would be in big, big trouble.

Oh, and there’s the crazy experience of my silly friends who thought it was okay to drink espresso out of paper cups. Apparently the only way to drink espresso properly at Intelligensia is to find a parking space in a part of Chicago that has few, sit down in the cafe, and have the coffee in some perfect cup.

I do love those flat lattes, but it’s TJ’s for now. What kind of a name is Intelligensia anyway?