The Emperor has no clothes

Just returned from New York City. I must say I was rather disappointed in the cosmopolitan coffee scene. I know that there are regional differences in coffee tastes,but what I found was almost tragic. A bright note was the level of skill displayed with latte art. I had a beautiful cappuccino made with two delicate hearts. The milk was foamed perfectly with dense microbubbles and the espresso was a beautiful reddish brown. The flavor of the three shots of espresso was totally overwhelmed by the small amount of steamed milk. At another location I witnessed open displays of roasted coffee in burlap bags that they were dispensing from, again this was visually striking. I can't imagine how bad the coffee would be or how the New York State Department of Health could condone allowing a food product to be so available for cross contamination.I purchased a cup from another coffee shop that used clovers for their single cup brewing, they also had decided to start roasting for themselves. The cup was hideously over extracted and the roast very undeveloped leaving me thinking about green apples mixed with hay. Are these folks tasting what they are brewing? I actually had a nice cup at Owens Daily Roast. I applaud their entrepreneurial spirit,perhaps with time and experience the quality of the product will get better.