Milwaukee Specialty Food and Coffee

East Side/Riverwest: Snapshots: Stone Creek Shorewood

I'm at Stone Creek Coffee in Shorewood, drinking a small Americano ($2.10 including tax).  Prepared with two shots of Green Bike Espresso, it makes for a not-at-all-strong cup of coffee.  This one is rather good, having been made with perfectly timed, 20-second shots.  The Americano might actually be the preferred option for older folks and others who want mild coffee, even over the regular drip coffee.  If you like it strong, you're better off asking for three shots.

Editorial: Current Affairs: Today's Must-read

I couldn't resist clicking on this article with a headline like "Baby Boomers have led us into fiscal and moral bankruptcy"!

Glendale/Whitefish Bay: Snapshot: Mastrena @ Starbucks Whitefish Bay

As I mentioned earlier, the Whitefish Bay Starbucks store has been outfitted with the new Mastrena espresso machines.  I just had my first double espresso made with the machines.  It was really good.  It was on a par with the better Stone Creek shots I've had. I'm hoping the Mastrena will be deployed at other nearby stores by winter, when I'll be spending more time on the North Shore. There are some regular customers (read: residents) here that get on my nerves, and in any event, the place just doesn't have much atmosphere.

Starbucks Etiquette Question

How does one go about sending back a drink at Starbucks? And how will it be received? This afternoon at the Shorewood location (where I haven't had the best experiences overall), a tall soy latte was vastly poorer than one prepared by a different barista just a couple weeks ago. SBUX employees are so all over the place that even if I go to Whitefish Bay to try the Mastrena, I won't feel able to make a judgment until I've had three different drinks prepared by three different people.

Crusin' A-hunnert: Late Night Coffee: 24-hour Starbucks on Hwy. 100

Funny--I'd just been thinking that Starbucks in Whitefish Bay must have gotten the Mastrena because it's the highest-grossing store.  However, if you come out to Wauwatosa's Highway 100 and I-94 location, you'd surely assume that this is the biggest grosser.  Don't be fooled, however, by looking at the full cafe rather than the counter.  Many of the youthful customers don't stop at the counter first--and some have drinks from Taco Bell or even Caribou in hand.  As far as I know, Starbucks doesn't have any policy against this.

Specialty Coffee Drinks: The Mastrena Has Landed

Starbucks' Whitefish Bay store has been outfitted with the new superautomatic Mastrena espresso machines.  As far as I know, they're the only local location to have it.  I'll try to make it up there in the next couple days to try the espresso.

Editorial: The F-bomb

I just ran an errand over at UWM. In the hallway, a few students sitting around a Kaplan information table (not sure if they were working) were dropping F-bombs like Patriot missiles on Baghdad both times I passed through. I have an irrational hatred of this word. Fair warning: if anyone who deals with me professionally ever drops the F-bomb in my presence, they (and, where applicable, their employer) will hear about it. I'm always up for a Don Quixote-like task, so I think I'm going to start taking a stand against incivility.

Cedarburg: Snapshot: Fiddleheads in Cedarburg

In an earlier post, I wondered how long Fiddleheads' Cedarburg location has been open.  In tonight's Internet wanderings, I saw that the previous business at that address had been Yelped as recently as July 2007.  (It was called Cream City Coffee.)  Thus Heads' recent expansion has been rapid indeed.

Incidentally, I stopped in there this afternoon for a mug of the Main Street blend drip coffee, which was almost as good as the Colombian I'd had in Mequon.  However, I much prefer the Mequon location.

UPDATE: A reader pointed out that Fiddleheads bought out Cream City Coffee in 2003, and is about to celebrate their 5-year anniversary at that location.

East Side/Riverwest: Snapshot: Alterra on Prospect

In observance of another recent habit, I'm concluding my evening at Alterra's N. Prospect Ave. location.  In contrast to recent weeknights, they have a full house.  Only two tables are free, and customers are scattered along both bars.  I'm having a mug of Sumatra Organic H20 Process.

Mequon: Snapshots: Fiddleheads in Mequon

Around noon today, I made my usual stop at Fiddleheads' N. Port Washington Rd. location in Mequon. There, I had the best cup of Fiddleheads drip coffee I've ever tasted.  It was Colombian, leading me to suspect that my taste in coffee runs toward the lighter roast/higher acidity end of the spectrum.

Again, the Internet connection didn’t work, at least not enough for me to download my e-mail, connect remotely to my office, check my bank balances, or get much anything else done.  I had two browsers going—Firefox and Chrome—and neither connect reliably to the above sites.  I’d have brought it to the attention of the baristas, but they had a rush just as I was leaving.  I'll have to drop a snail mail note to management.