I'm at Stone Creek Coffee in Glendale. My favorite SCC barista is here, so a double espresso is the order of the day. This location serves it in a small clear water glass that would hold about 8 oz. or so. My high expectations weren't disappointed.
I've developed a little habit of stopping at Stone Creek Coffee's Whitefish Bay location in the morning. Both they and the neighboring Bruegger's seem to be weathering the construction along E. Silver Spring Dr. well. I'm adding a little extra oomph with a triple Americano in a small mug.
UPDATE: I'm having such a good time I got a refill. Full City Blend. Good stuff.
I was saddened to hear that Great Harvest on E. Silver Spring Dr. in Whitefish Bay has closed. While walking past a couple weeks ago, I noticed that it was closed temporarily. It since reopened, only to then close for good, save for a fundraiser being held late this month, the Journal Sentinel reports. I'll look forward to the opportunity to hopefully pick up a last loaf of their delicious multigrain bread. (Great Harvest is a franchise, but the other locations are not in places that I ever get to.)
I'm amazed at the ability of the Alterra Bayshore baristas to humor North Shore Nancies. A couple of times, I've overheard customers struggle with how to translate their drink order customization from Starbucks-speak to Alterra-speak. I think their micromanagement of number and strength of shots, number of pumps, and so on is a power game more than anything else. If I were a barista, I'd say: "Welcome to Alterra! Tonight's special is A UNIVERSE THAT DOES NOT F*CKING REVOLVE AROUND YOU. OUGHTA TRY IT SOMETIME. Have a great day!"
If you intend to use Wi-Fi and aren't an existing AT&T customer, I recommend strongly against going to Milwaukee-area Starbucks locations, as you are forced to use the T-Mobile service, which works poorly or not at all. In the past 24 hours, I've been to two locations, having bought a DayPass, basically because I was pressed for time last night. After about 15 minutes of trying to get on tonight, I gave up in frustration (I'm writing this from Alterra).
As you will soon read, Kristine's reaction to Alterra's Honduras Capucas was much more favorable than my own, so I felt obliged to stop by their Bayshore location and give it another try. I'm glad I did. My second cup is much more pleasing than the first (I'm probably just developing a taste for it), and I may well end up buying a pound.
A quick pit stop at Stone Creek Coffee's E. Silver Spring Dr. location, where the steady morning traffic was still alive and well up to fifteen minutes ago. The coffee: old-ish, but not yet quite over the hill. I'm off to Shawano!
This is the time of year when the weather can't win: if it's too hot, it's the "dog days"; too cool, and it's a harbinger of the coming Fall, a downer. The summer slipped away from me a little bit, since I was pretty wrapped up in work. I now have the capability to work from pretty much anywhere, so it'll be fun to spend some nice Fall days drinking coffee and earning money at the same time. This evening, I'm at Alterra Bayshore starting things off with some Guatemala Asobagri.
Sometimes I wonder if particular styles of music are selected for marketing purposes. I notice that jazz often seems to be used to mean "upscale." For instance, when the renovated Bayshore Towne Centre opened, the outdoor streetscape is filled with jazzy sounds. Lately, it's been traditional jazz. The pieces seem to be endless; I was shocked to actually hear one end and the next begin one evening a couple weeks back. I think it's still going.
I wanted to come to Stone Creek Coffee's Glendale location, as I planned to stick around a while, and Bayshore doesn't lend itself to that on weekends. I've thought of an important parameter for coffee houses: "hangout-ability". I didn't come up with the term. Even in this regard, I think you really have to think of hangout-ability as a kind of x-y diagram, depending on whether you want to work quietly or people-watch. I find this quality most elusive in Milwaukee coffeehouses, except one. I think that one is called Madison something-or-another ;-)
The drink to get at Stone Creek is the Americano ($2.00 for a small). It bypasses the problems with their drip coffee and espresso. I actually thought mine was swell and drank it black. That's what I'm talkin' 'bout!
