This time, the great genius goes home with Mark and teaches him how not to make espresso at home. There are some sick practical tips in there that I will definitely incorporate if ma and pa are still holding Bradley’s espresso machine hostage when next I am home.

Posted: June 20th, 2008 under Coffee Shops, Internet Video.
Comments: none

I don’t know much about intelligentsia, but when I was in Pittsburgh I drank quite a lot of it and enjoyed it immensely. I liked watching an edited-down version of the roasting process. When my local spot, Oslo gets their roaster up and running I’m going to pull a Bradley Allen and go in there and say TEACH ME!!!

Posted: June 16th, 2008 under Coffee Shops, Internet Video.
Comments: none

Joe: The Art of Coffee, my favorite coffee shop on the planet, has been nominated for the “Best new alt coffee shop” award from Time Out New York this year. The elephant in the room, of course, is the absence of any explanation of what an ‘alt’ coffee shop is (alternative? to what?), or why Joe would be in a ‘new’ category, despite being an established (albeit young) neighborhood institution and the winner of the 2004 ‘Best Coffee’ Eat Out Award from the same magazine. Perplexities aside, Joe deserves to be the award-winingest coffee shop out there, with beverages that make the competition seem pitiful and withering, and service that makes the competition seem off-putting and uninviting.

Anyways, the ballots are online right now, and all the coolest kids in town are voting for Joe.

Here’s the link to the ballot. I didn’t bother filling out the rest. You can find Joe’s listing by scrolling a bit less than halfway down.

Posted: March 5th, 2007 under Coffee Shops.
Comments: none

Posted: August 9th, 2006 under Coffee Shops.
Comments: none

Espresso Roma
Originally uploaded by Benjamin Harrison.

Café Roma is one of my favorite places to hang out in the East Bay. This is the type of treasure that Berkeley is really good at. The trouble with California is that it’s laid out with the automobile in mind, leaving the avid pedestrian without much in the way of accessibility. However, College Avenue, at this latitude, is a bustling assembly of excellent businesses including top quality world cuisine, frilly bath soap boutiques, orthopedic shoe stores and a quirky little movie theatre that can’t quite decide weather it’s a second run theatre or an art house. Then, commanding the intersection of College and Ashby with a spacious seating area and a well-stocked counter, is Espresso Roma. You park your car on the street for free a few blocks away, and you have as much food, entertainment and relaxation as anyone could want within easy walking distance.

Roma may very well be a franchise. They’ve got a bunch of other locations, but I have a hard time holding that against a place that gets it so right. They’ve struck a great balance between atmosphere, coffee, food and other beverages, that makes the place just too damn nice to be in. This ain’t that plastic-molded hipster feel that you get walking into a Starbucks. They have good food and coffee, and non-retarded clientele.

With an incredibly solid array of caffeinated offerings, most of which they serve in pint glasses, some might consider the average volume of a coffee at Roma a little vulgar. I tend to leave the place feeling ever so slightly overcaffeinated, but it’s an interesting touch to be able to see what the foam in your latté is up to. It’s like drinking an ant farm. In a good way.

In addition to the obvious array of coffee-friendly pastries Roma serves excellent sandwiches (hot and cold) and has a handful microbrews on tap, meaning they’re just as busy after 8 as they are through the day, the clientele putting their laptops and highliters away and loosening their collars. The atmosphere expertly undergoes the metamorphosis from studious to social over the course of the day, meaning Roma is seldom an ill-advised destination.

Roma’s operaters, unfortunately, are still under the impression that WiFi is something people want to pay for in 20-minute increments. They have plenty of patronage, so there isn’t really any incentive for them to make it free, unfortunately, other than that being the right thing to do. The bathroom could also be cleaner and better maintained, but these two gripes aren’t going to stop me from going here anytime soon.

Salient Facts about Roma

Pro: Great atmosphere, above-par coffee/espresso, great sandwiches, interesting beer, awesome location, outdoor dining in the warmer months.

Con: You have to pay for WiFi, the bathroom isn’t 100% clean 100% of the time

Location:The intersection of College and Ashby, Berkeley, CA

Website

Posted: January 10th, 2006 under Coffee Shops.
Comments: 1

Sitting outside sipping fresh lemonade on a hot summer day at Joe in the West Village.

Posted: July 23rd, 2005 under Coffee Shops.
Comments: 3

Across the street from Veselka, the Ukranian restaurant legendary among weary East Village party people, and across second avenue from the most unabashedly prison-looking Starbucks I’ve ever seen is a gem of a coffee shop, known as Mud.

New Yorkers who traverse the village may have noticed the bright orange Mud Trucks serving hurried New Yorkers better-than-average caffein infusions to drug their day up to full speed, but most I’ve asked have not discovered the brick and mortar counterpart to these trucks. It’s a great place to chill.

I think the thing that I like most about Mud is its courtyard. You enter the shop and snake your way through the deliciously gloomy dining room, past a chaise longue with yeterday’s edition of the Times spread out on it, and you’re in an excellent little open-air, brick paved dining area that can probably accomodate 25-30 people, but always seems to have some available seating. You take your seat, you’re handed a menu and you’re set. They play an awesome mixture of music. They have no fear of good hip-hop, but you’re just as likely to hear some awesome twangy country singer crooning for 45 minutes in between the soundtrack from Boogie Nights and Common’s new album.

The folks at Mud are in no hurry, which is part of the formula that makes it distinctly not lame. You can have a complete brunch experience and go, or you can come in and nurse a cup of their namesake product for 3 hours and they won’t begrudge you the table (good luck maintaining a consistent wifi connection during that time, though). I think if they tried to turn the tables over in a proactive way the shop wouldn’t really work. It’s first and foremost a coffee shop, built to hang out in with friends or write or read. The restaurant aspect is secondary.

That’s not to impune the food. The food is very good in my experience. I’ve heard rave reviews of theri huevos rancheros, and I can personally attest to the quality of most of their other vegetarien-friendly brunch items (do not despair, carnivores, prechutto and bacon are also on the menu). The portions are a little smaller than most places, giving them a sort of european feel. You’re not going to stuff yourself silly on a single plate, but expect to pay like you are. That’s one of my few criticisms of Mud: it’s on the pricey side of things.

Ideally I’d like to be able to walk in to a coffee shop with $5 and be able to buy myself a beverage and something to snack on with relative ease, but if I want that same snack at Mud I plan to have at least seven bucks, and if I’m getting full blown brunch I might be better off with fifteen. You get what you pay for, for the most part, but that doesn’t mean it doesn’t hurt.

As for the coffee, I think its better than average. Their regular drip-coffee, their marquee product, is merely better than most—certainly not the best I’ve ever had. It’s got a nice smokey flavor, and goes easy on the chocolatey undertones. Their iced coffee has been a little bit weak in my experience. Their cappuccino is the best I’ve ever had. I wish I was a bigger cappuccino drinker, and this one might help me become one.

Overall I give the joint an enthusiastic thumbs-up. They have a cool clientele, and half their wait-staff is friendly and cool too (the other half being aloof and occasionally bitchy, which is mildly irritating). There are very few reasons not to enjoy yourself at Mud and if you manage to find them you’re probably looking too hard, so lighten up, enjoy some good food, and stay cool.

Salient Facts about Mud

Pro: Sweet outdoor dining, laid back environment, good food, above-average drink, attractive and/or interesting clientele

Con: A little bit pricey, lame shaky wifi situation, the occasional snippy or unaware waitress

Location:9th street off 2nd Avenue, New York, NY

Website

Posted: June 26th, 2005 under Coffee Shops.
Comments: none

This coffe house has an outrageously silly name. When it was first recommended to me I could only produce the sounds ‘pft’ and ’snnkt’ (that second sound being the noise produced when you compress your nasal cavity and force air through it in either direction, sort of like snoring). It reminds me of Thomas Kinkaid: The Painter of Light, and anything reminding me of that is immediately subjected to mockery and wise cracks. Fortunately I had to actually meet someone there, so I was forced to go in and try something.

Now when it comes to cafe-going it’s never been about the coffee for me. I’m not the type of person who gets up in the morning and has to have a 3-liter coffee enema before I can put coherent sentences together (replace coffee with cereal and you’re closer to the mark). I just don’t have a good reaction to it when I drink it with the objective of making myself alert. That said, I love working in cafes because they just seem to be condusive to focused intellectualism. I buy my beverage in order to legitimately enjoy the space for an hour or two. The empty cup and saucer on my table say "yes I have paid and I’m not just squatting."

Location, Location, Location

Waverly Place between 6th Ave and Gay

9 East 13th Street between 5th and University

Either way, the shop having coffee that’s actually really good is a big plus and always encourages return business. I’m a regular at Joe. I might be their best customer. They have two locations: 141 Waverly Place and 9 East 13th Street. One happens to be a quick walk from school, the other a quick walk from my apartment, making it that much more attractive.

In addition to slangin’ top shelf coffee-related beverages they have a nicely diverse and always evolving selection of munchies, delicious (if slightly overpriced) freshly squoze jus d’orange, and their iced beverages are elegant and delicious. One of my favorite menu items is a super-thick, dark hot chocolate (pictured) that rivals stuff I’ve had in Paris for quality, and it spares you a dork-penalty ordering it because it comes in a snooty little espresso cup. Clearly anyone that would sip chocolate out of a cup so small is Classy.™

The place is not without it’s flaws. They don’t provide wifi (free or otherwise) which seems sort of neanderthal. I suppose in some ways it makes for a more social environment, but it can be annoying if I want to go get some work done. You can usually get a signal if you get a window seat at the Waverly location, but the 13th Street location is almost always an internet wasteland, which adds insult to the fact that they’ve covered most the power outlets at that store, making the plain statement that they don’t like your laptop. This fact alone has me deciding to walk a little further to the Waverly store a lot of the time. They also make only minimal efforts to make outdoor seating an inviting option: there are benches but no tables. They have some room for improvement.

I like the people who come into the place. They’re all nice to each other. They all seem to enjoy the fact that everyone is enjoying themselves. They’re happy to share a table with you if there are no other seats, and if you’re shy about asking someone the staff will make a cheerful introduction for you. Both stores are nice and bright and more than once I’ve had a lively conversation with friends spread to adjacent tables. They play cool ecclectic music loud enough to enjoy if you want it, quiet enough to tune it out if you’re working or conversing. It’s just hard not to like the whole experience.

Salient Facts about Joe: The Art of Coffee

Pro: totally excellent beverages across the board, super-friendly staff and clientele, cool locations

Con: no Internet, no outdoor tables

Locations: Waverly Place between 6th Ave and Gay and 9 East 13th Street between 5th and University, New York, NY

Website

Posted: June 9th, 2005 under Coffee Shops.
Comments: 3

My favorite blogger (other than myself), Bradley Allen, is always writing about coffee shops and cafe culture. I don’t know what it is with this guy, he just loves the coffee shops.

Point is, I’m going to start doing a bit of that myself soon. Keep them peepers peeled for reviews of tasty coffee shops I go to.

Fair warning.

Posted: June 3rd, 2005 under Coffee Shops.
Comments: none