Saturday, December 22, 2007

Visit to The Coffee Studio

(click any picture for the larger version)

appealing

So I had my three boys (11,9,almost 4)with me at the Museum of Science and Industry this morning (Star Wars exhibit). I have been itching to go visit The Coffee Studio up in Andersonville, and while the museum is nowhere near the shop, I figured, they’re both sorta close to Lake Shore Drive. We parked at the nearby McDonalds, bought some kid-pacifying burgers and brought them into the shop (not the classiest move, but I hoped eating would keep some busy hands occupied).

My plan was to try an espresso before I introduced myself. I mean, I’ve been following (and posting comments to) the shop’s blog for a while now, but I had this fear- What if I was disappointed in the coffee? It has happened at other places, and in those cases it would have been better to be an anonymous customer. I also had the thought, what if my kids trash the place? It would be better to be less trackable :)

Well, that was foiled right away, Lee recognized me (and the kids in tow helped give it away). I was a little shocked to be recognized, that threw me off a bit. My mind was quickly put at ease when I tried the espresso- it was really great! Phew.

The space is bright and inviting, you just get this feeling everything was well thought out (stands to reason, coming from two designers). The low counter seems to encourage interaction with the barista. The Synesso machine is nicely visible for people (like me) who love shiny
machines.

beautiful machine

I didn’t get to investigate all of the décor, I was excited to talk to Lee and Miguel, and try to keep the kids from breaking anything. I believe there were coffee origin pictures and some info on the process of getting coffee from the tree to your cup. The stuff for sale on the shelves is what you would want people to use to prepare good coffee (chemex and eva solo brewers, baratza burr grinders,)

coffee pictures

It is very cool to see owners that are so into the coffee. I think this placewill be introducing a lot of people in the neighborhood to a really high level of coffee quality. Definitely visit this shop.

proud owners (and future customer)