One of the best things about heading down to Baltimore is hanging out with Spike and Jay. They are always full of passion and extremely entertaining to boot.
Jay's primary specialty is coffee, although that's certainly not the only thing he's known for, and he was our right hand man for the dinner last week. Along the way he created a really cool coffee beverage, using Counter Culture Coffee for a menu pairing. You can read about it here. There's even a recipe.
Spike and Jay are both serious coffee fanatics, although Jay is the barista of the two. He taught us a lot about coffee in a very short time and reminded us what a difference the details make in that very first sip of the day. He is also responsible for introducing us to beans of Counter Culture and that was a gift in itself. They roast some serious coffee beans there. I will never look at Starbucks the same way again.