Ty @ the cup – baristas
I plan my coffee around when the good baristas are working at my favorite coffee shops. And if I walk in and see a not-so-good barista behind the counter, I will either leave or order a tea instead. I don’t want to waste my morning sipping a $3 cup of bitter ass coffee.
One stand-out – Ty at The Cup. He usually makes a great coffee, and I think he can make the best coffee in Boulder (doesn’t ALWAYS, but he’s your best shot) BUT he doesn’t work on Sunday or Monday-so I avoid the joint entirely on those days.
Woolly Bugger: Harbor Springs, Michigan
Any decent fly fisherman knows that a woolly bugger is a wet fly (that feels like it has the mass of a lead weight compared to a typical dry fly). It’s also the name of a little coffee shop in Harbor Springs, Michigan (and another location in Charlevoix, purportedly). The shop is fly fishing themed, with fishing quotes on the walls and other visual aides to bolster the case. It comes off a bit campy (ok, really campy), but otherwise the shop is cozy and workable, though pretty cramped.
Woolly Bugger roasts its own coffee (offsite, elsewhere in Harbor Springs) and the cappuccino I had was smooth and tasty and very mild. Mild well beyond Amante’s roasts, if that’s any indication. I’ll be near for a while so will go back for more visits and see if the subsequent shots are as mild. As a change, I rather liked it. I didn’t realize how inured I had become of the rocket booster roasts of Conscious, Kaladi, Unseen, etc. I could get used to a milder espresso, or at least get used to having the choice on any given day. At any rate, the coffee was well worth going back for.
The work space? That might be a different matter. It’ll do in a pinch (free wireless, of course), but for longer term working needs — i.e., reliably comfortable working space a day or two a week — Woolly Bugger isn’t going to be the choice because there is no elbow room. Then again, there isn’t any other choice in Harbor Springs, so good luck if the world brings you here for a month or two. Absolutely beautiful place of the country to visit and even stay, not the easiest place to be a traveling laptop zombie.
Travels through the Northlands
It’s been a few years since I was able to get the time and reason to make a long road trip but the opportunity presented itself recently and now here I am, 1,500 miles richer. My rough route was Boulder to a little town about an hour outside of Rapid City, SD. From there due east through SD and into Pipestone, MN before I headed northeastward. I stayed on rural highways to Duluth, then stayed on Highway 2 through Ashland, WI and on into the UP (that’s “Upper Peninsula of Michigan” to those of you not from Michigan or the northwoods). I stayed on Hwy 2 through the UP to the Mackinac Bridge, then into northern Michigan where I now rest.
First, two general observations. I’ve made this trip a few times, always along slightly different routes, but more or less the same trip, the last time about five years ago. Since then two things have happened: 1) wireless internet has hit the rest of the country; 2) indie coffee shops have hit their stride. I mean no patronizing in either case, just the facts.
A few years ago there was no such thing as “free wi-fi” in the rural middle of the U.S. Now, it’s everywhere. It’s on marquee boards of cheap motels, LED signs of gas stations alongside the current price of gas, and sandwich boards outside of run-down sandwich shops in towns of 428 souls. It’s shocking to see the variety of establishments you now see the sign proclaiming “free wireless,” “wireless internet!!” or “free wi-fi.” Again, this is not along the interstates but inside the little towns you must pass through as you traverse Highway 23 through Minnesota or 123 through the UP.
