Athan’s Bakery (Washington Square, Brookline)
During the summer I have a slightly awkward work schedule involving a 12-8pm shift on Tuesdays, which means figuring out how to make the best use of a weekday morning between 8am (when I drop Hanna at work) and 12 noon (when I report to the library for the start of my shift).
This summer, my goal is to spend it writing, most likely in the various independent coffeehouses around Boston which Hanna and I like to haunt on our days off. Which made me realize what a plethora of indie coffee shops we actually have within walking distance of where we live and work.
Below the fold are my top six, in no particular order. Share your own favorite local coffee establishments in comments!
Pavement Coffeehouse. Just down the street from where I work, this place is usually overflowing with students from Berkelee School of Music and Boston Conservatory, both in the neighborhood. Favorite Drink: Spanish Latte (a latte with sweetened, condensed milk). Favorite Food: The Awakening sandwich (egg, caramelized onions, feta, tomato pesto, arugula, on artisan roll).
Crema Cafe. Located in Harvard Square, you have to get to Crema early if you want to eat in — usually it’s full of Harvard students settled in to study and gossip for hours at a time. Favorite Drink: Golden Crema (latte with honey and cinnamon). Favorite Food: Toasted home-made English muffin with butter and apricot jam.
Berkeley Perk Cafe. Just around the corner from Back Bay station, this place is a cozy, quiet locale to hang out and read. They’re cash-only and don’t have WiFi, so be prepared to pay with greenbacks and bring a book or a good friend to hang with. Favorite Drink: Vanilla Chai Latte Favorite Food: Avocado and egg breakfast sandwich on whole grain bread.
Boston Coffee Company (aka Beanstock). Located in Boston’s North End, this establishment is actually the place Hanna took me for coffee on our very first “date.” Favorite Drink: Nor’easter (whipped, iced mocha). Favorite Food: Quiche and side salad, served with a vinaigrette to die for.
Tatte. In Audubon Circle, Tatte is one of our favorite breakfast destinations winter or summer (though sitting outside means you’ll be feeding crumbs to the local sparrow population!). Favorite Drink: Latte (hot or iced), it’s best to keep things simple. Favorite Food: Brioche breakfast for two (four fresh-baked brioche rolls, butter, and two kinds of jam).
Athan’s. Our most recent find, this bakery is located in Washington Square, Brookline, and offers the best people watching from their huge front windows, as well as the best taste in Jazz standards and folk music piped through the sound system. We love hanging out here on Sunday mornings (see photo above). Favorite Drink: Greek coffee (sweet). Favorite Food: Apricot-almond strudel OR the savory cheese and spinach pies.
What’s your Local Latte of Choice, Harpies? Share away in comments!
I don’t drink coffee. I love the way it smells, but it seems to upset my stomach. I used to pull drinks when I worked at Barnes & Noble, and I was probably the worst barista in recorded history, having no idea what the drinks were supposed to taste like. But I always offered extra whip to compensate.
We have a bunch of coffeehouses in my neighborhood. The local favorite is probably 61C, named after a bus route that runs right past it. I have friends who are also very fond of Commonwealth Coffee. But I have to say that no local coffee place I’ve ever been in had really memorable pastries. Now if we’re talking breakfast places…
OMG! I wish a lot harpies lived closer to me (in Sydney, Australia!) or came to visit so I could show you the very best of coffee, coffee houses and cafes or be shown the other hidden gems lurking that I haven’t discovered.
For me, in no apparent order,
* my go to cafe in my suburb, Espresso Galleria. As far as I know, the cafe has always been run by someone with Greek heritage, which hasn’t raised eyebrows despite living in the Italian part of Sydney. I stick with what I like, mocha (like a cappucino, with chocolate added). When the Moussaka is on the menu (which is occassinally) it’s yummy, and the barista’s mum makes it. Hmmm delish.
* on the way to work there are 3 that are absolutely fantastic – Rosso Espresso (I sms ahead and Anne has my mocha ready to go), Ko Ko Espresso (where I talk football with Phil, who is also an Arsenal FC fan), and Single Origin (who roast their own coffee and the guy who runs it always has some fantastic tales to share).
* At uni there are a couple that get my undying love: Azurri’s Cafe (located on campus at the bottom of the Wentworth building); Toby’s Estate Roastery, Cafe & Tea Emporium (off campus on City Rd and a short stroll through Victoria Park); and of course Campos Coffee (in Newtown, just off King St).
* on the weekend I love a good breakfast with a great coffee, so the go to places for me are: Big Brekky (in Petersham), The Coogee Bite Cafe (in Coogee, especially if I feel like a swim in the ocean beforehand), Badde Manors (Glebe), and Clippers (Glebe, their baked eggs are so yum!).
Gentrification means 2 coffee chains are about to open near where I live, however my heart, stomach and wallet belong to Vagabond and Moka (both London, N4). They’re small, serve excellent home-made food, and are run by keen, community-minded types.
Vagabond is popular with coffee geeks, but my most common order is the hot chocolate made with 80% cacao chocolate (they have 3 strengths to choose from) – v grown up. Favourite food : Any of their simple cakes.
Moka is more of a teeny restaurant, they serve heartier food and have free wifi. Favourite food: scramabled eggs on toast, topped with roasted tomatoes. Favourite drink: cappuccino (I am a woman of straightforward tastes when it comes to coffee.)
Plum-Pie Moka as in Moka pot?
I’m not a coffee drinker, but I love coffeehouses. I love the smell and enjoy the ambiance. I live in the birthplace of Starbucks, so there is one about every 3 blocks (it seems). We also have little drive through coffee huts on almost every corner. They are a little backyard shed thing and people drive up to the window to do the order. It’s so rainy here in the Seattle area and people drink A LOT of coffee so drive through coffee works great.
The drive through coffee hut places offer various custom roasts, organic, etc and are the equivalent of a food truck with a specialized product but not a lot of overhead.
About 20 minutes from me is my favorite hang-out coffeehouse, Issaquah Coffee Company. They have gluten free cookies and the like, so I can take friends there who have celiac. In the summer they have THE BEST gelato. Add to that huge leather chairs, generous tables, and the fact that they always have a dish of water outside for dogs makes me love it.
It gets very loud though, so one of my meetup groups had to move to a local Starbucks.
@Anna, I hope I am not thread-jacking by asking this next question.. harpies, I’ll be visiting to London (and surrounds), Barcelona and Roma over the Dec-Jan period (catch up with family, have a football odyssey that hopefully won’t be as problematic as Odyseus’, and go exploring).. so harpies who live in the United Kingdom, Spain and/or Italy, and/or are well travelled, what cafes do you recommend?
I have only started drinking coffee in the past couple years–I just never developed the habit in college when everyone else seemed to pick it up (probably related to the fact that I never procrastinate and therefore didn’t have to rely on coffee to fuel all-nighters.) So my palate isn’t highly developed. I mostly know that the coffee brewed in my office kitchen mostly sucks and that Starbucks isn’t nearly as good as what you can get at local coffee places in NYC like Gray Dog, Joe’s, Stumptown and O (all of which have outlets mainly in the Village–for everywhere else, including Midtown, Starbucks seems to predominate).
I don’t like black coffee—too harsh—so I mostly drink lattes or lots of milk in it. Maybe all the milk means I can’t appreciate the full flavor? I dunno. But I love dairy, so it’s all good.
@Plum-Pie: I am fond of the coffee at Monmouth, which I get at Borough Market. I had a boyfriend who used to beg me to bring home beans from Monmouth when I visited London.
@Mackey: I recently had a flat white for the first time at DUB (Down Under Bakery, run by Aussie expats who sell meat pies and Lamingtons in Brooklyn). It was awesome! I hope more Americans pick up on serving coffee that way.
Becky – Monmouth is indeed lovely.
Mackey – maybe Becky could pass your email address on to me and we could send you some recommendations? Or we could do what we do when Becky’s in town and take you out…
@Plum-Pie – that would be unbelievably amazing to meet some of the harpies! in the flesh [with big winter coats and warm clothes on] even and showing me the good coffee houses only! (if you could see me in the flesh, my smile is so big and bright right now)..
Becky definitely has my email (both the one I use regularly and the other to control spam), and I’m totally fine with Becky passing them on!