Community Coffee from Louisiana! Or French Market from New Orleans!
Read the articles on the home page of this site regarding Community coffee and the best way to brew it. Also James Vilas in Town and Country magazine (12/97)on French Market coffee which he says rivals the best Italian Roast beans used for espresso.
Most coffee in the US still comes through the Port of New Orleans and South Louisianians LOVE their coffee. It's truly the only place left in the US where you can get coffee that equals good European brew.
Starbucks is way over-rated. I can't even drink the swill. I have pretty much stopped drinking coffee in commercial establishments.
The biggest problem is that most American grow up drinking a very light roast that is poorly brewed (bitter) and very thin. They think that's what coffee is supposed to be.
Coffee is hard to brew in large quantities and suffers by sitting on a hotplate. Impossible in airplanes.
Drip pots or those wonderful stovetop Italian 2-part pots make the best coffee but that's hard to do in a restaurant environment.
I'd call the Community Coffee Company and ask how they do it in their shops. They seem to be able to do it in quantity. They provide the coffee on the floor of the Louisiana Legislature which seems to keep well. (Don't blame that for the legislative mischief that often occurs, please.)
It is so hard to get a good cuppa in the US and so easy in many other countries. Cuban coffee in tiny cups (even the stuff at the Miami airport). I don't remember a bad cup of coffee anywhere in Italy or Austria or Germany. Did get a few so-so brews in France. Had some mediocre stuff in New Orleans -- obviously brewed for the tourists.
Years ago, I worked for the computer division of Wm. B Reilly Coffee Co. in New Orleans which was then the country's largest importer -- may still be. The elderly black man who made the coffee for the tasters/blenders, etc. made our coffee for us and he was worse than Seinfeld's Soup ****. According to him, coffee should never be drunk with cream (or any milk or fake-milk product) and MUST have sugar to bring out the richness. It was too much trouble to argue with him so we all drank our coffee his way and I still do. (Except for an occasional cup of cafe au lait at Morning Call or Cafe du Monde). Sugar (not artificial sweeteners) really rounds out the flavors.