White Coconut

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Because it was such a beautiful sunny summer day in San Luis Obispo my Mom and I decided to walk to breakfast and coffee. However, by the time we got to Scout on Garden Street we were craving something more refreshing than a latte, which is how we ventured into their amazing iced tea list. White tea is the lowest caffeine content of teas, but the amazing flavors that come along with white teas make it worth it (unless you need your caffeine fix) to order over one of the stronger alternatives. Due to my love of coconut, I ordered the iced White Coconut Tea. All of Scouts iced teas go through a 24 hour cold brew process, where they take tea leaves and put them in 64 ounce mason jars, adding in cold filtered water and letting it seep with all the water touching all the tea for 24 hours. They then strain out all the leaves, which creates the concentrate that they then dilute with more cold filtered water. Their white tea impressed me with having actual coconut pieces mixed in, rather than simply flavoring the drink with a coconut syrup. The White Coconut Creme tea by the Art of Tea is made up of tender white peony tea leaves blended with safflower, coconut bits and creamy essence of coconut. The way they lay the tea pieces out is part of what makes this blend so special: the tea was rolled with the coconut to infuse the flavor naturally. The tea leaves smell strongly of coconut, while the actual drink has just the right amount coconut flavor, perfect for slow sipping while enjoying great conversation. You put the tea with the coconut and drink it all up!

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Mango + Chai

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Today I took my mother on her first Top Dog experience, as well as taking myself out to Morro Bay again for the first time as a college graduate. Although I know I love Top Dog’s SiD, the Iced Soy Mango Chai just sounded too good to resist. On their menu the mango chai is simply described as “Yum!” Sweet with obvious mango flavor, but not too sweet that you feel like you’re drinking a sugary drink. They give it the mango flavor in the iced drinks by pouring a little Mango Torani Syrup on top, then they mix it in with the rest, while for the hot they steam in the mango syrup with the milk. The double brewed chai by My Chai in Oregon is made with organic spices and is still one of my favorite chias to date. The chai is the perfect compliment, with all the spices making it sugar and spice and everything nice. Together these flavor combinations of mango and chai are surprisingly irresistable after the first sip. You get hooked so fast that, before you know it, you’ve finished and all that’s left is ice! It goes down incredibly smoothly, with the small granular bits of spice dancing on your tongue.

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Bucket List Coffee Stop

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In the spirit of checking things off my SLO Bucket List, Rebecca and I ventured to the last San Luis Obispo coffee shop I had to visit before I graduated: West End Espresso & Tea at the end of Higuera. With the large windows making up half of the walls, this particular SLOcal coffee shop has a different vibe than the rest. I like it.

As the first coffee house in downtown San Luis Obispo, they have welcomed coffee and tea lovers such as myself for over 30 years with the sounds and smells of tantalizing brews.

The Milk:
Good (but also not that surprising) news: they have two different non-dairy alternatives, soy and almond milk!

The Beans:
Espresso Nuovoq is a rich blend of Central, South American, and Indonesian beans roasted to a deep dark brown. These oily beans have lots of oil in them (interesting?), which makes the espresso amazingly strong. In addition to strong flavor, these beans produce a complex full-bodied brew with a thick rich crema. Apparently West End Espresso is known for having really strong espresso. If interested, you can even buy any of their whole beans to take home for yourself.

My Drink:
I went with my favorite; dirty chai with soy. Matt the barista recommended it the hot; how could I resist? They use Big Chai, which is a liquid concentrate sweet chai with vanilla flavoring. One of my favorite chais I’ve tried thus far: full of flavor.
They start by adding it the chai, then they cut it with milk instead of water (which is what Starbucks does, but they aren’t about that). The proportion was about half milk & half with the chai. If I wanted to have even MORE caffeine, they also have a dirty hippy, which is iced coffee, chai, and espresso. They called my drink out as a “Soy Chai Charger” which was new. It felt very light with a generous helping of the foam, which I was excited about simply because of the uniqueness of the frothy goodness on top. The foam actually tasted with chai and is a dark tan color. The dirty chai itself was incredibly smooth, with both the espresso and chai overpowering the soy in a delightful tongue-tickling way.

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Intelligentsia Perfection

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The second I saw Intelligentsia as Hugo and I were walking down Colorado Street in Old Town Pasadena, I knew I had to show him the wonders and magic of their Black Cat espresso. Intelligentsia’s soy iced latte can only be described as perfection with each sip. My taste buds fell in love at first taste, and my sense of smell was ignited before even walking through the door, hit with the strong smell of freshly roasted and ground coffee beans. Their soy latte is always a safe bet for an amazing beverage, mostly because of their high quality beans. Black Cat Espresso is a syrupy sweet espresso blend that has been the staple of Intelligentsia’s lineup since the beginning; the supreme balance and wonderful sweetness made this a classic, as well as one of my favorite espressos of all time.

Since it has double the espresso of the latte, Hugo’s Angeleno was a significantly darker color with a more intense, sharp espresso smell that is sure to excite any espresso lover. The Soy Angeleno is a shaken-sweetened iced latte with four shoots of the Black Cat espresso, sweetened with simple syrup. We asked for it to be only lightly sweetened, which ended up being a good call because then the amazing taste of the espresso was not overpowered by the sweetener. I would be willing to try it with their normal amount of simple syrup, just because I know how skilled these perfectionist Baristas are at Intelligentsia.

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New Orleans Coffee

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My first local coffee stop in New Orleans: Antoine’s Annex on Royal near Toulouse. Out of all the coffee I had in New Orleans during my time there for the International Collegiate Conference for the American Marketing Association (which also happened to be the same time as the
French Quarter Music Festival) I discovered that Antoine’s Annex was my favorite. I loved the look of the place; the locals who recommended it were definitely on point with how clean it is inside! The doors and window panes (right word?) were a deep teal on the outside, but once you walked inside the floors were composed of black and white tiles, while the walls were decorated with large black and white photographs and white shelves. Due to the fact that outside it was humid and in the 80’s, I knew I’d want something cold for after we left the air-conditioned black and white cafe. I knew iced was the only option, which is how I came upon this refreshing iced soy latte. It was very smooth and a light tan color when the soy and espresso were mixed, with a ratio of soy to espresso that was very heavy on the soy side of things. The espresso was so good that I wish I’d ordered it with another shot.

The fresh, certified organic, and fair trade espresso actually comes from a family-owned local roaster, Orleans Coffee Exchange, which provides coffee to the majority of New Orleans coffee houses.

Multiple New Orleans locals recommended the place because it’s clean, has better coffee, and most important: it has ice cream. Even though I’m lactose intolerant, I can still appreciate the concept and understand the appeal of having both ice cream and good coffee.

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Too-Clean Chai

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Sally Loo’s is my favorite, as well as every other girl’s favorite, breakfast cafe in San Luis Obispo. The acai bowls are my favorite part, but as Hugo and I waited for our breakfasts to come, we shared a large chai latte with almond milk. I am glad we shared, which is unusual for me, but it was fun passing the white mug and saucer back and forth across the smooth wooden table.
The almond milk chai latte looks absolutely beautiful, with the design in the foam and the cinnamon generously sprinkled on top. The large gulps are smooth yet spicy! The tastes of cinnamon overpower the chai, which was too watered down in the ratio of chai to almond milk.

I wish I got it dirty. I regret this decision greatly, as this drink truly needed the addition of some good espresso (which I know from past experience Sally Loo’s always has).

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Scout

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Stephanie and I decided this was the perfect day, now that we are back in San Luis Obispo after over a week of traveling to San Francisco and Las Vegas, to relax over good cups of coffee and try out the frequently talked about hipster coffee shop Scout on Garden Street. Scout has been open for 2 months, still new to San Luis Obispo’s coffee market, and it is also very open-feeling with the large glass door/windows that extend from the floor to near the ceiling, around 9 feet tall, in the high-ceiling coffee shop. It was a great atmosphere, with the windows wide open on this beautiful day. We chose seats at the smooth wooden bar with tall green-metal stools to get the best view of the behind-the-bar action.

I ordered a large latte with almond milk for here; Stephanie got hers to-go in a hand-stamped cup. The highlight is that almond milk here is house-made; Scout buys almonds in bulk and puts them in a blender with a little water before it is strained and made into the delicious almond milk they sell today. The milk was steamed to 165 degrees of perfection. The espresso is a medium-roast Street Level from Verve. It’s a blend of all Costa Ricas with four different coffees featured. The tasting notes are black cherry up-front with the tanginess and a sweet almond finish. We also ordered the Scout Cookie (which complemented the latte VERY well). The Scout Cookie is a triple chocolate using dark, semi-sweet, and bitter chocolate with toasted pecans and oats. The very-chocolate-y cookie was huge; we definitely made a good decision by splitting it. The cup had lingering marks from the foam of the coffee towards the top rim, similar to the lingering tastes of almond and my lingering desire for another cup.

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The art and science of good coffee.

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Best cappuccino in San Francisco is here at Jane. They have a list of different coffee options from Stumptown Coffee Roasters, which I’ve noticed is very popular up here in SF. Your choices for now until March 28th include: Sulawesi Toraja (profile: honey, cola, naval orange and marshmallow), Duromina (profile: strawberries and cream), Huye Mountain (profile: peanut butter, cocao, and raspberries), and Hairbended (profile: milk chocolate, Meyer lemon, and caramel). From this selection I chose the Huye Mountain beans from Rwanda, which was the best decision, especially with the lingering tastes of chocolate and peanut butter, in addition to how smooth the foam was on the well-designed cappuccino. My options for ways to order the Huye Mountain included espresso, macchiato, Gibraltar, or cappuccino, and I now want to try them all! I ended up with the cappuccino because I felt I needed the largest one possible. I got it with almond milk and they complemented eachother perfectly. Highly highly recommend. It was served in a white cup on a black saucer, which perfectly matched the black and white decor in this chic cafe. Everything about this cafe is thought out and inviting, including (but not limited to) the chevron tile tables, long bar, large cold brew drip, mirrored walls, two stories, and simplistic exterior.

They also are featuring Stumptown’s single origins, including the Sulawesi Toaraco Peaberry with darker notes and an earthy taste. Their coffee manager decided to have a chemistry-tube rack filled with different beans and spices to display the science that goes into each cup of coffee. It’s an art and a science: visually appealing and builds on the fact that baristas are both skillful artists and chemists.

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Duboce Park Cafe. Smoothie?

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I felt my caffeine-dependent blood flowing slower through my veins, craving the morning coffee IV drip, as I slowly pushed open the door to Duboce Park Cafe on Sanchez Street in San Francisco. The word “coffee” was the only thing on my mind as Stephanie and I walked inside. I ordered a chai crush smoothie with a double shot, which is their house brewed chai, banana, honey, and almond milk. I was so tired and coffee deprived when we got here that I was a walking zombie in search of coffee rather than brains. I decided to get the chai smoothie with double shots of their Sightglass espresso because of their extensive specialty smoothie menu. I don’t know why I got a frozen drink on this foggy morning, but I’m pretty sure I can trace that decision back to my ordering mentality. I wish I could taste the espresso more, but I get that’s what you get with smoothies. The chai was great and had lots of flavor. I think I need a stronger and warmer drink next time.

Roaster

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Walk in for a breath of coffee air in Union Street Coffee Roastery. I had high expectations, due to the name of the café and my assumption that the coffee would be freshly roasted. Additionally I had been on a roll with good coffee shops in SF, and was expecting my lucky streak to continue. Unfortunately the staff was neither helpful nor friendly. When asked what type of espresso it was, the barista told me “bean.” When asked if they roast their coffee daily, the barista told me “no, only twice a week.” Luckily they had two different types of non-dairy milk alternative (almond and soy) for the lactose-intolerant. The worst was yet to come: the coffee came with an advertisement sleeve for Claritin (awkward ad placement that makes this place look very cheap) surrounding a cheap almond-milk latte that tasted and smelled like instant coffee. It was so terrible I couldn’t even finish, and both Carmen and Stephanie agreed it didn’t taste right and that there was something seriously wrong with it.