Forget all the talk about new arenas and performing-arts centers and massive convention centers. There's one thing a big city must have to be world class: rich, dark coffee, the kind that's so strong it makes suburban moms cringe. A city also needs stylin' places in which to drink this gruel, and Kansas City has plenty of those. But it's nice to have the black gold at home, too -- a fistful of pungent, oily beans ground fresh and brewed in a French press. So we stock up every week at Broadway Roasting Company, the newly opened annex of Kansas City's perennial favorite Broadway Café. What makes the new place so fabulous -- besides its ever-changing selection of fresh-roasted beans from Sumatra, Peru, Costa Rica and other tropical locales -- is that it's not really a hang-out spot. You don't have to wait behind a line of people ordering fancy coffee drinks that take forever to make. You can grab your bag, slap down the debit card and go on with your day.
