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What's does "CC" mean?
Subject: Jones Coffee Roasters
Location visited: Pasadena, CA
Free WiFi ? : yes
Rating: 5+ [see key]
Multi-tasking shines as a quality valued a little too much. Sure you might be able to type a letter while painting a self portrait and clapping cymbals between your knees in half time, but can you do it well? Few of us can.
Yet my recent trip to Jones Coffee Roasters revealed what seemed quite a feat of simultaneous operations. Located in lovely Pasadena (quite the gorgeous town), my wife and I stopped in toward the end of the night on our way back to our hotel. We walked up to the open garage door of the cafe, nestled in a pretty nondescript office building/strip mall, and found the cafe a little slow but still serving drinks on their island of a counter in the front of what apparently also doubles as their storage and roasting facility.
The great feat of multi-tasking manifested itself in that the barista not only worked the counter, but he also managed to monitor a batch of coffee on their large drum roaster in the back of the warehouse. Some may see this as an easy ball to keep suspended in the juggle, but from personal experience, it takes a lot of effort to keep a conscious watch on something so volatile in detail.
Looking to the coffee, I had the Gamble House Blend which proved to have a smooth and bright character, with touches of honey and a tea-like body. The espresso (which the barista did actually forget initially) displayed well in a pair of short shots that carried a nice lime tang and sweet hints of cocoa but sadly ended with a little bit of harsh char on the end. The tea is a free leaf of their own.
All together, Jones Coffee Company seemed to illustrate multi-tasking as something doable but by no means an easy task. Either way, it gave good closure to that particular warm evening with the decent coffee (espresso appeared that it could improve) and the intriguing juggling act. If you happen to be around the area, drop on by for some decent cup o joe and just maybe, a show.
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As I'm always looking to make my life a bit easier amid my rushed existence, I found this product interesting. It's a coffee sleeve with string grips that allow you to carry your coffee like a bag. Granted the concept is nothing groundbreaking, but then again, most handy innovations are but something tweaked a step further.
If you happen to have used or experienced this, I'm curious as to its true potential.
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What's does "CC" mean?
Subject: Blue Spoon Coffee Co.
Location visited: Manhattan, NY
Free WiFi ? : yes
Rating: 6+ [see key]
I've always been curious what kind of coffee Wall Street traders would drink as they get ready for their crazy days. Fortunately for at least the NYC Financial District, there are a few coffee places relatively close by to grab a quality cup of joe.
One that seems outfitted for the working Manhattan-ite on the go is a place called the Blue Spoon Coffee Company, a small coffeehouse located right on Chambers Street open only during the traditional M-F work week. I had made a few attempts to stop by over the years but since I rarely went up to New York City during the week, stopping in proved difficult.
Finally, I had an excuse one day to stop by early during the rush hour commute of a Monday (which might I add, navigating the subway with that much chaos is no fun) and hence, I wandered over to their shop. The venue sits in a cute cafe with a metal exterior with decent windows and a quaint inside with a good deal of spacious seating for the space.
The coffee comes from Intelligentsia, and from what I understand Blue Spoon stands as one of the first in NYC to peddle the Chicago coffee. I had the Blue Spoon Blend, a coffee that purveyed a fiery spice on the front that ended subtly in rice pudding. The espresso, pulled short and by practiced hands, had sweet notes of strawberries and cream as well strong hints of cocoa. I didn't spot the tea.
As I had been waiting to go to Blue Spoon for a while, I was glad that it delivered on my hopes of it being worth the trip. If you happen to be south in Manhattan during the work week, make a detour to the Blue Spoon Coffee Co.
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What's does "CC" mean?
Subject: Urth Caffe
Location visited: Santa Monica,CA
Free WiFi ? : yes
Rating: 4+ [see key]
There exist but a few optimal ways of how I love to sip my coffee and by far, my favorite would be sitting on a covered outside patio in the midst of a warm sunny day. But in the world of coffeehouses, rarely do such spaces exist and when they do, such wonders are quickly filled by local and traveler alike.
Such seems to be the case of the Santa Monica location of Urth Cafe. The cafe sits in a hopping part of town and resides within one of the more unique buildings I've seen. Not only is the architecture kind of funky, but a good portion extends into a wall-less porch that takes in the California sun wonderfully. All together, the place really pleases the eyes and the amount of people packed into the place really spoke to its popularity.
As far as their coffee and tea, Urth serves only organic and roasts their own coffee. I had the coffee on tap, the Milano, which turned out to have a decent body but also a whole lot of bitterness common to an over-roasted coffee. The espresso didn't work out too well either, as it had decent acidity but also strong flavors of exterior oils. The teas are free leaf.
While sitting down in the lovely cafe would have made my Urth experience a little better (waiting for a table was not an option), I had to go and with only a mediocre coffee experience. Hopefully the day proved just an off experience behind the counter.
Therefore, if you're in Santa Monica and looking for fair coffee in a really nice cafe, stop by Urth Cafe.
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What's does "CC" mean?
Subject: Ridgewood Coffee Company
Location visited: Ridgewood, NJ
Free WiFi ? : yes
Rating: 5+ [see key]
The land of NJ that lies to the northeast is a land fairly different than the rest of the state. The number of roads and highways obviously is much greater and the proximity to New York City makes the place a congested nightmare during the waking hours of most days.
With such a large amount of traffic, you would think there at least a few good coffee places, especially with New York City's ever-improving coffee scene. But alas, few good places have sprung up in northeast NJ.
Yet every now and then, a prospect pops up, the most recent being a place called the Ridgewood Coffee Company in the lovely town of Ridgewood. Rumor had it the place was doing great things with great coffee, so the first time I needed to go through the area via automobile, I made sure to make a stop.
I arrived in Ridgewood one brisk weekday morning, finding the coffeehouse sitting pretty on a corner along a main stretch of town. The outside had a collection of plastic porch chairs (some had blown away) and the building itself had but one large window. Inside, the seating forks on either side of the coffee counter in what was a fairly dark room with most of the light coming in from the window.
The coffee comes from three coffee greats: Ecco, Novo and Intelligentsia. With such an arsenal, the fact that Ridgewood can show them off on a Clover makes good sense. I had the Novo's Colombian via Clover which came out lovely with the sweet taste of pear and dough; an overall mellow and wonderful coffee. The espresso, which was pulled so-so (the barista was definitely half asleep), expressed a tart lime-ish tang in front followed by notes of cane sugar and (sadly) a strong amount of char on the back end. The tea is Stash and Tazo.
Sadly, the whole coffee experience was soured by the two baristas working that day. Not only did they both give me their coldest shoulders when I first came in (they were still slowly setting up) but despite a completely empty shop, I had to initiate every inch of my order (including payment!). Even after I sat down 5 ft away from the counter, they were loudly grumbling about how they needed more money as well as other woes in their life. Normally, I give a slip in customer service the benefit of the doubt, but this topped the charts as the worst I've ever suffered. Hopefully I just experienced a negative anomaly (so it seems, as others seem to have had good experiences).
Thus in the end, I drove away from Ridgewood let down with the overall experience but pleased that a coffeehouse with potential of blooming has taken root in the northeast of NJ. While I'm not up in that neck of the woods a lot, I do hope to make another stop in soon, with hopefully better results.
If you're nearby, give Ridgewood Coffee Company a try; I pray your encounter plays out better then mine.
What's does "CC" mean?
