Originally Posted by
livedarklions
My only experience with such a place was that the coffee was expensive and worse than what I would get at a 7 11. Really, really bad. Nice bikes to look at while I took a few sips before dumping it, but out of my price range.
Gotta say for me, decent coffee beats "lifestyle hangout" every time.
The forbidden LBS.
Anyhow, you might prefer 7/11 or Dunkin' (nothing wrong with either), but the Sevens are drop dead gorgeous and they serve George Howell coffee and they serve it well.
For those who don't know, George Howell founded Coffee Connection in Harvard Square in the mid-70s. He didn't like dark roast (joked about Charbucks), and roasted his beans "cinnamon."
One of his two dozen Coffee Connections was across the street from the forbidden LBS. He literally sold out to Charbucks in the 90s, so it is now a Starbucks.
Plus with Pete's a few doors down from Starbucks, and Dunkin' behind them in parking lot, Lexington Center has a lot of coffee choices.
(But Arlington Center has Kickstand, Gail Anne, Mamadou's, Starbucks, and Cafe Nero, plus a little further east is Quebrada and Barismo, and to the west is Magic Bites, Classic Cafe, Roasted Granola, and Starbucks again, plus Dunkin', Dunkin', Dunkin', Dunkin' every which way. If you can't find a cup of joe you like here, I don't know what to say.)
(Still nothing like the peak coffee crazy a few years ago in Vancouver, BC, where you could find 3 Starbucks on the corners of one intersection.)
Sorry, to satisfy your 7/11 cravings the closest to the forbidden LBS are in Waltham or Woburn.
-mr. bill