No Foam Please
All Things CoffeeArchive for March, 2010
Kennedy Coffee, Bentonville
In one of my trips for work, I went to Bentonville, Arkansas, and had occasion to stop at Kennedy Coffee. Its pretty close to one of the Wal-mart facilities, so there are a lot of Wal-mart folks stopping in at rush hour in the morning. It has the usual amenities – free wifi with any drink order, ample seating to stop and check your mail or read the paper, and low enough lighting to give you a little bit of privacy.
The coffee there was good – but the first time I ordered a “Mocha” there they made me a “Kennedy Mocha” which has about 10x the chocolate of any normal mocha latte, complete with flakes of chocolate on top. The lattes were good, service was pretty efficient considering the traffic volume (most independent places don’t have quite the speed of operation that places like Starbucks and Peet’s have). They have a collection of other somewhat unique (or at least uniquely named) drinks but unfortunately the menu isn’t posted online!
Yelp Reviews are similarly positive.
I believe this is the Kennedy Mocha
Real Simple Boasts about 7 Coffees
Looking for something to change up your coffee routine?
Real Simple (the magazine) boasts about “7 Buzz-Worthy Coffees” – giving some recommendations for coffees you can try to change up your coffee routine…
- Pete’s Coffee Uzuri African Blend
- Counter Culture La Golondrina
- Starbucks Pike Place Roast – I have to admit to liking this one myself. But when I buy beans for regular coffee rather than espresso I like to find something different to buy.
- Jim’s Organic Sweet Love Blend
- Stumptown Coffee Roasters Kenya Gaturiri Reserve – molasses and black currant? count me in.
- illy Whole Bean Coffee Medium Roast – All of the illy coffees are fantastic in my opinion. There is nothing quite like the smell when you crack open a tin of illy coffee. Now, for some reason Real Simple says that you can only get it in “ground” rather than whole bean, but the picture says “whole bean” and I’ve never had trouble finding illy whole bean coffee…
- Gimme! Coffee Rwanda Remera
So, if you’ve been stuck in a rut with your daily coffee routine, try one of these to change up the routine… But I’ll add a couple more ideas to the list:
Ruta Maya - a fantastic organic coffee from right here in Austin. The Cubita (black package) has a great aroma. They’ve been in business in Austin for years, importing from Central America. And then there’s Third Coast Coffee, another good local roaster. Or Kohana Coffee (love their website, haven’t tried the coffee yet!)….
Do you have to move to Austin to find these? Of course not! No doubt there is a small roaster in your town (or two, or three, or ten) to try out. If there’s an organic grocery store (Whole Foods, Sprout, etc) or a Costco, those are good places to start looking for alternatives that might be local (at least, they are good places to look for options in Austin, along with HEB and Central Market).
Happy hunting…
Jo’s Coffee
Jo's Coffee on South Congress
Jo’s Coffee, in Austin, TX, is a bit of an institution. It has quite a following at its two locations (which, by the way, have a very different vibe). The one on Second Street feels a bit more upscale, but not still casual enough for the average pedestrian in shorts and flip flops.
The Jo’s on South Congress is basically a shack with open air seating. Jo’s sells beer as well as coffee, and the outdoor seating seems to be very popular with folks who want to have a beer and a smoke, even more than the folks who just want coffee. My latte was good, and so was the Mocha Latte. But the ambiance of the place was left wanting, and I retreated to the Hotel San Jose courtyard to read the newspaper without any smoke blowing my way. Jo’s has free wifi as well, but I didn’t get a chance to test it out.
I think the best thing recommending both Jo’s coffee locations is that they’re located near a lot of interesting stores you can walk to – and if you’re like me, you need caffeine to shop. South Congress, and 2nd Street, are two of the more interesting outdoor shopping streets in Austin (with South Congress being a bit more “hip” and 2nd Street a bit more “upscale”), and both have a collection of really yummy restaurants to complement the coffee shops.
Yelp reviews here…
