Dear Editor,

I am writing in response to the inclusion of the “Best Mini Coffee” in the Guardian’s Nov. 19 issue. In full disclosure, I am a columnist for San Diego CityBeat, which just ran its own “Best of” issue, and I’m also married to one of the owners of the Art of Espresso.

I find it perplexing that you chose to include a biting, juvenile review of the Art of Espresso under the “Best of” stamp. Hello, editors? Did you take the day off when Chris Kokiousis turned in his work? The author clearly thinks he was being edgy and smart in his commentary, but he really only served to up his own “douche factor” with his backbiting blurb.

Perhaps he was aiming to diss the Art of Espresso, but instead he insulted Art of Espresso customers — the faculty, staff and student “assholes” who frequent it — simply for carrying an eight-ounce “I’m a dick” cup of coffee. (Incidentally, eight ounces is the proper size of a traditional cappuccino.) I can only assume you went to press before the announcement that student “assholes” will be paying 32 percent more for tuition next year. But your writer had to have been aware that the “assholes” comprising the faculty and staff have been hit in the pocketbook by furloughs. Not everyone on campus has the financial ability to purchase expensive coffee drinks, and the Art of Espresso recognizes this. They go to great lengths to keep costs low without compromising quality or service; certainly, you won’t find the honor-system basket on every counter in the city.

People buy their coffee — mini or otherwise — at the Art of Espresso not because they want to offer a “midget middle finger to conformity” (though that sure is a cute bit of writing trickery). They go there because the product is good and consistent, the service is personable and the prices are low. Those are the qualities that should be enumerated in a “Best of” issue.

— Aaryn Belfer

Columnist, San Diego CityBeat