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In order to make looking up a location on the blog a bit easier/more convenient, I put together an interactive map of all the coffee locations reviewed. You'll find the map on the Index page (the link is always on the top left of the Pure Coffee Blog, under "Find by Location").

CC: Inversion Coffee House

What's a Coffee Commentary?

Subject: Inversion Coffee House
Location visited: Houston, TX
Free WiFi ? : yes
Rating: 4+ [see key]



A visit to Texas in the winter was just what I needed. The warm temperatures, direct sunlight, and spicy food really took the winter blues clear out of my veins.

And what trip would be complete without a sample of the local coffee? Though eager to do so, I really wasn't sure where to start as I had never really heard of GREAT Texan coffee. But after doing a little research, I turned up a few places to try out.

One of them was in the lovely town of Houston called Inversion Coffee House. At first when I glanced at their website, I saw "March 5 Grand Opening" on a scrolling marquee and thought that I was going to be one of the first few visitors to walk through their doors only to find out later that they just haven't updated their website in a year (i.e. I almost made it for the first anniversary).

Inversion sits on a mild thoroughfare in a large warehouse-ish building, complete with ample parking, a small garden, and lots of outside seating. The inside is decorated with art of all sorts; some of it really nice and other parts of it just really seemed a bit overwhelming (mainly the pictures peering down from above the register). There's plenty of seating, though much of it was taken when I came in.

The coffee comes from Katz Coffee, a local roaster that seems to produce a decent product. The brew on tap at Inversion leaned a little dark and tasted spicy with a sweet aftertaste. The espresso was fair; a dark essence with slight char yet sweet, with a nice acidity. The tea is Revolution.

While I really enjoyed my visit to Inversion, they definitely seem like they could take up the quality to the next level. With such a wonderful space and a seemingly great location, Inversion could be a shining star amidst Houston.

CC: Beauty Shop Cafe

What's a Coffee Commentary?

Subject: Beauty Shop Cafe
Location visited: Philadelphia, PA
Free WiFi ? : yes
Rating: 5+ [see key]



Don't you love it when you stumble across something you wanted to do, but had forgotten all about it until the second you tripped over it?

Recently my bride and I were trying to piddle away a bit of weekend free time before meeting up at the Franklin Institute with my family. The day was sunny and as we headed up 20th St, my wife caught sight of a cafe. Naturally, we pulled over and went down to sniff it out. Turns out it was a shop that I had caught wind of months ago, the Beauty Shop Cafe.

On the outside, the shop is red brick with clear windows peeking inside. Walking in, the place is fairly small with a few tables, a bar along one of the windows, and some vintage (not in use) salon effects. The entire space was alive with people reading, working, and ticking away on their laptops.

The coffee was the reason I had heard of Beauty Shop, as they were "announced" to be the first Center City place that served Chestnut Hill Coffee. Having only had the coffee at the source, I was curious how it would fare off the premises. Beauty Shop served up their own house blend, which embodied a bit of a dark bite yet sampled mostly smooth. The espresso really impressed me, as the barista not only had the decency to re-pull my shots (the first one twas a dud) but the espresso tasted like sunshine (bright and sweet) complete with a decent hang. The tea came from House of Tea, a local Philly company that looks promising.

Aside from the somewhat off-the-beaten-path location, Beauty Shop offers a fairly refreshing change in quality to many other city shops. The major things are to make sure to give yourself time for parking (unless you want to be on Parking Wars) and time in case the limited seating is full.

CC: Bonte

What's a Coffee Commentary?

Subject: Bonte
Location visited: Philadelphia, PA
[visited 922 and 1315 Walnut]
Free WiFi ? : yes
Rating: 3+ [see key]



When waffles hit my eye (not literally), I usually think breakfast. Sure there's the occasional late night craving for chocolate chip waffles covered with whipped cream, but I can count on one hand the times I've yielded to such gastro-hankerings. So aside from a trip to Brussels, where else would you go to get a Belgian waffle around dinnertime? Well, if you live in Philadelphia or other select PA or NJ towns, you can head to Bonte.

Bonte is primarily a wafflerie but what caught my eye is that they also professed to serve quality and locally roasted coffee. So over the years, I've stopped in a couple times to try out the chain. The place displays a very optically sensual experience with some really beautiful color coordination and nice interior design (they like blue and brown).

One of the odd things is that they espouse to use "locally roasted" coffee and yet they serve Counter Culture coffee which to my knowledge is roasted deep in North Carolina (maybe they consider East Coast local?).

Regardless, I was a bit excited to get my coffee as Counter Culture has a pretty good reputation. And yet, I was somewhat disappointed. The coffee in my experience is decent yet most recently, the brew was definitely stale (too long in the pot). The espresso is generally mediocre; my shot of late was pulled fairly well and had a nice sweet acidity, but conversely possessed a noticeable hint of cardboard.

Being that their real passion is waffles, I decided in my most recent visit to give one a whirl. I had a blueberry waffle to go (wrapped up like a pretzel) that proved to be a tremendously tasty treat. How close it comes to a true Belgian waffle, I couldn't tell you.

As an overall chain, it seems that Bonte could use a little refinement with their espresso and coffee practices across the board. With a little bit more hard work and a freak movement of American waffle infatuation, the place could really take off.

CC: Premium Steap

What's a Coffee Commentary?

Subject: Premium Steap
Location visited: Philadelphia, PA
Free WiFi ? : no
Rating: 3+ [see key]



Tea has always been a second love (drink-wise of course; overall it's fourth as God and wife obviously trump coffee and tea) and for many people, a first. Yet it isn't often that you run across a tea establishment, at least not in the Northeast.

Thus, Premium Steap was a lovely surprise to stumble across one night while meandering around Philadelphia. The shop from afar blended in with the rest of the 18th St venues but when one stood in front of it, the store displayed a beautiful storefront complete with a very sharp awning. At the time it was closed, but I could see that the shop had numerous canisters of tea and from what it looked like, a bar from which to sample the tea.

But it wasn't until about a month ago that I actually got to stop in and try it. It was a blustery afternoon and I was with friends who graciously allowed me to stop in real quick to check the place out. The interior was nice, a bit messy, and the woman (the owner) was definitely amidst a flurry of activity. Also while browsing the teas, for the first time I noticed the complete lack of places to sit and realized the shop was more of a tea and accessory emporium then a sit-down-and-sip-your-tea shop (plus the website touting the former name of the "Wayne Tea Salon", definitely seems to spell out "store").

The owner was helpful (though I couldn't help but feel like she was vibing the "buy something or get out" message as I browsed). She showed me a handful of teas and I ended up taking a cup of black tea to go (which sampled wonderfully; not too tart and with a beautiful body).

While I do want to go back and give some of the other teas a go and maybe take some home, I really can't say I had a great experience (in taking a moment to think about it, I really have to attribute it to the owner's flustered countenance as well as the slightly messy interior). But given the product had nothing to do with the negatives, for now I'm going to chalk it up as a bad day for the owner. The next time I make a stop in will hopefully be a better time; either way, I'll write about it.