What is your favorite coffee shop?
 

Just like the question ask. Post a link if there is one. Here's mine. Inversion Coffee. Great people behind the counter and customers. Very friendly environment, good coffee, free WiFi!
http://www.inversioncoffee.com/

There's one locally owned coffee shop in town which has phenomenal coffee and great service. (I'm not a coffee drinker myself so I'm taking the word of my coffee-loving friends.) The owner gets organic coffee and roasts his own blends. The place is always busy.

Stumptown, on 45th and Division. The baristas there are excellent and they know more about espresso than a shameless coffee hedon like me. I've never been in another shop where the baristas will directly attend to the shot they're pulling throughout the process. Not only that, when the shot shows signs of misbehaving, they show no hesitation to dump the shot straight down the drain and start over!

And the coffee is roasted right in the shop in big Probat drum roasters, by a few of the same people who pull shots. They're good with the roasters, too, better than I can do with some coffees. (although my personal roaster is much more flexible with roasting profiles, which brings out bright coffees better than drums, imnsho :D ) Good beans, too.

That's why I like them! They have full control over the entire process, from taking the time to secure the best coffee, all the way to the demitasse. And they really work hard at every step of the process, no shortcuts.

Ugh. I hate coffee. I'm a tea guy. There's actually a coffee/bike shop around here called "Bikes & Beans". Higher-end shop carrying brands like Cannondale and Fuji. Interesting concept, and they seem to be doing quite well.

Southside St. Louis: Hartford coffee

Rolla, MO: Giddy Goat (it's the only coffee shop in town, but it's good stuff.)

Tea? Well, to each their own. Coffee/bike shop huh? I like the idea.

The ones that provide free wifi for my laptop. I'm much more of a tea & cocoa guy as well. If I bring my own cup, I can usually get a .10 to .25 discount.

Couches are a bonus too.

http://www.taftstreetcoffee.org/

Maybe not the best in Houston but it's my favorite, from my understanding it's a non-profit and all of the workers there are volunteers. Everything they have is wonderful and the staff is always friendly. They have an art venue, farmers market, bookstore, and other things and it's a part of a church I believe.

I have been meaning to check this place out since it opened, is there a place to lock up the bike?

I make coffee at home. It's really possible. They make special machines and you can get almost any beans you want. (There's even a local roaster around where I life.):D

:D No kidding?
I tend to avoid most coffee shops around here for these reasons:
1. They generally serve coffee in paper cups, which I regard as a) uncivilized and b) a tremendous waste of paper resources, even if those resources are recycled. If I go to a coffee shop and they insist on serving me a paper (or anything other than a standard cup), I tell them to keep their coffee.

2. I wonder where most of the coffee comes from. I try to avoid coffee that I know has been sourced from near virtual slave conditions. So, I try to buy fair-trade coffee and hope a coffee shop would do the same.... although they often won't guarantee this.

3. Caffeine is not that good for you. (Or at least it's not that good for me...)

4. Coffee shops coffee costs about 5 times what it costs me to make it at home.

5. I really try to avoid any coffee shop that has a drive-thru. It's not that I am so car-free myself, but I think it panders to some very bad North American habits.

True Grounds in Somerville Mass. If you are lucky and get a good puller, the Northern Italian Espresso makes a nice Cap.

They have good regular coffee as well. It's very good by today's modest standards.

At Christmas, my brother in law took me to his church. It's a mega-church in Phoenix and it has its own Starbucks; and cupholders in the arena area. So I'm not sure if what you feel is the holy spirit or the caffiene. ;)

I prefer to make my own. I don't drink lattes or any fancy drink. I don't like to pay 3$ for a cup of coffee. I use a french press and good good beans from Kona.

http://www.beaverfallscoffeeandtea.com/

Pretty new. I worked there when it first opened last year and stayed there for about 6 or 7 months. Organic, fair-trade, shade grown coffee. They do a lot to try and be green, too. Great people.

Actually, I'm still listed as working there! Look up Brett Wagner in About Us.

I've been in Taft Street a couple of times. Nice place, great setting. I usually lock my bike up to one of the handicapped parking sign post. There's also the handrail next to the parking lot on the Bomar Street side. If you see a Blue Motobecane Elite there, it's me.

Ashland Coffee and Tea, Ashland, VA. 15 miles north of Richmond, 18 miles from my home in Montpelier (actually 21 on my usual route avoiding the main, heavily trafficked road into town). It's the local hangout for the cycling community, and a wonderful folk venue in the evenings.

http://www.ashlandcoffeeandtea.com/

During the summer, I'm invariably there in the late morning towards the end of my Sunday ride, then in the afternoon I grab the Harley and hit Richmond's biker bars. You'd be amazed at the similarities between the two venues.

beans north on Takhini hot springs road. organic,fair trade. Yukon Canada's best kept secret.

Cafe Le Madeliene, West 43rd St. and 9th Avenue New York, New York (when I'm there). Starbuck's drive-through here in Venice.

Higher Grounds Trading Co. Roasters and coffee shop. A co-op located in the old state hospital in Traverse City, MI. Delicious organic fair-trade blends. And they even have a bike co-op (Broke Spoke) on the premises. I also buy their coffee here in Lansing at the City Market.

(The Market also carries Intelligentsia beans from Chicago--regarded as one of the best roasters in the country. It's so hard to make up my mind when I go there!)

I'm familiar with the name, ("black cat", to be specific) but never tried the coffee. I don't think they sell green coffee... checking... Nope. Real live single origin lots, though. But it's definitely the wrong side of the continent for me to order roasted beans from. I'd have to convince them to airmail some right out of the roaster to get it here with a few days to try it out before it staled. From what I've heard, they would do it!

--If you have trouble making up your mind there, don't take up homeroasting!

My fave place for coffee - in my den, relaxing on the sofa that faces my 6ft. aquarium.

Stumptown does have the best coffee in Portland, and Portland has some pretty good coffee. However it's not necessarily my favorite coffee shop to just hang out in--that would be Common Grounds on 40 somethingth and Hawthorne. Just a very firendly, cozy place. In high school I would go there to unwind and do some homework. Portlanders do have the luxury of a multitude of good choices.

In Missoula where I go to school I rather like this little bakery that also does espresso: Le Petite Outre. Good french style pastries. they have outdoor seating but not indoor, so I haven't been there as much now that winter has hit.

I spend the most time in The Break. Good coffee, they also do some baking, free wifi, and lots of tables, usually filled with other students. The 1.25 cups of coffee and 25 cent refills have helped many a student through finals week.

The former is an easy walk and the latter is a long walk or short ride. Who needs a car?

Oh Lord :eek: !

I'm a tea drinker--don't really like coffee at all. Hey, I'm a Brit, what can I say?

East Hill

I have to go with you there. A strong whiff of coffee from a cup makes me nauseous and I can only take short periods of time in a Starbucks before I get a headache.