A few weeks ago, with dreary skies looming over Nashville, a friend of mine introduced me to Crema, the newest coffee shop in town. Since it was mid-afternoon, I ordered a cup of decaf, but wound up with a decaf Americano - espresso and hot water. It was hot, bold and black, and by the time I finished it, I wanted more.

Rachel Lehman opened Crema earlier this year, and now that I’ve been back several times, I have to say that she’s always friendly in the mornings. (That’s a rarity in coffee shops.) She proudly follows the traditional Italian standards for preparing the espresso - ground one drink at a time, tamped with 30 lbs of pressure and extracted between 20-30 seconds. She also uses “naked” group heads, which means that the espresso touches less metal and results in a rich, creamy, foamy texture. “I’m a purist, and I believe that if the base of the drink isn’t phenomenal the rest of the drink will not taste good,” she says.

Lehman moved to Nashville from Denver, because her husband works in the healthcare industry, and they have grown fond of all the neighborhood restaurants in Nashville. They also enjoy classic country music. Good thing, too, because the Country Music Hall of Fame is pretty much in Crema’s backyard. That reminds me of the first lines of “9 to 5″ by Dolly Parton: “Tumble out of bed and stumble to the kitchen / Pour myself a cup of ambition… ” Well, so far I have resisted buying my own coffee maker, because on some mornings I can only get myself out the door if I promise myself a quick stop at a coffee shop. Thanks to Crema, I have one more reason to get out of bed.