Saturday, April 10, 2010

Coffee Houses: What's your fave?

When TLC was in Seattle, she and I had a good discussion about our favorite coffee houses/shops. Ah, something about a nice hot cup of coffee enjoyed in a cozy atmosphere, the din of the espresso machine purring and the slow jazz playing in the background just puts me at ease.

Being a Seattle-ite, I do love me Starbucks. I love their musicial selections, their caramel macchiatos and their white mochas as well as their (TLC introduced me to these) tiny vanilla scones. Yummy! I also love when they have comfy seating.

I also love another local chain Tully's. The caramel isn't as good as Starbucks is, but I think they usually have more fireplaces and comfy chairs.

I love a lot of the independent places around Seattle as well. Sureshot in Seattle's University of Washington District has some AMAZING white coffee. For those who don't know what that is, it's coffee beans that have been only lightly roasted to maximize caffeine. It also has a really mellow flavor and when made into a mocha, is a total dessert in a cup!

I think my all-time favorite coffee place is one we DON'T HAVE IN SEATTLE: Coffee Bean and Tea Leaf. Their Double Vanilla Tea Latte is the closest thing to heaven I have ever tasted. Everytime I'm in California or Arizona or Mexico City, I must visit one of these! My friend recently came back from Hawaii and brought me some tins of their Genmaicha tea and their Vanilla Ceylon...I love Coffee Bean!

So....your turn caffeinated readers. Fave coffee houses, fave drinks?
Have a wonderful weekend!

7 comments:

Anonymous said...

My favorite coffee houses around here in Fort Collins are Wild Boar Coffee (their Spicy BLT is AMAZING) and the other is actually a tea house, Happy Lucky's Teahouse. I mostly end up drinking Chai Tea when I visit coffee shops, but at the teahouse I always try something new because they have over 100 teas to choose from!

TinaFerraro said...

I like Starbucks, too, but prefer local shops for iced blended mochas.

Kate at Read This Book! said...

Not really a fan of Starbucks, probably because I prefer my coffee sweeter. I do like Coffee Bean's White Chocolate Mocha and Gloria Jean's White Hot Chocolate. =]

Bidisha said...

My fave coffe shop is Cafe Coffe Day 'cause they have a great atmosphere. Mostly thouh, I'm a sucker for all kids of iced tea.

XD

Anonymous said...

Here in MN we have a coffee chain called Caribou Coffee. I LOVE their Lite White Mocha with sugar free raspberry. My fav! But I also love their dark roast coffee. In the summer I love their mango-pom smoothie. I'll so to Starbucks, but they don't have a drink I just love! Well ok I did have their non-coffee cold drink the vanilla bean something. That was really good because it tasted like ice cream :)

Marley Gibson said...

Grande chai soy latte. Mmmm....

Heather Davis said...

There are so many good coffee houses in the Northwest. I love Stumptown, Uptown, Vita, Zingaro and Ladro. Yum! I will have a Starbucks on the road, but I try to find the indie or small chain coffee shops when I can.