Isn't This a Cute Coffee Shop? Let's Go In!

Look at this picture from a cute, hip coffee shop in a newly-gentrified neighbourhood:

Cute, no? That's two espressos and a caramel brownie right there. 

The place had a children's corner where all the newly-moved-in hipsters could let their kids play with educational toys and read educational books while they had their coffees and cakes and paninis made with natural, locally-sourced, organic ingredients and only the best roasted beans.

The brownie was good. 

The coffee though...what can one say about the coffee?

How about: OMIGOD THIS WAS THE WORST COFFEE I EVER HAD!

Seriously, it was disgusting. Neither of us could drink it. It tasted like when you accidentally put Taster's Choice coffee into a stovetop espresso machine (yes, this has happened to me). In fact, it tasted worse than Taster's Choice instant coffee.

This was surprising since the entire coffee-making process was automated. They had a fully automatic push-button espresso machine. The grinder and doser were automated, grinding and dosing out the exact amount of coffee for a single shot at the push of a button. 

The only variables were the beans and the tamping. They over-tamped the coffee, but that couldn't explain the awfulness of the stuff. No, the awfulness had to have come from the beans or the grind. My guess is that the beans were bad/stale, and the grind was too coarse. 

But that doesn't really matter, does it? Because the fact remained that we paid $5 for undrinkable espressos.

Hello, It's Tea Again

I keep thinking that that Todd Rundgren song, "Hello It's Me", is actually "Hello, It's Me Again". I don't know why. I even checked the lyrics and nowhere in the song does he say "again".  Maybe I secretly think that he's been calling this chick up all the time to discuss whatever problem they're having -- which appears to be either that he's in denial about being in a relationship, or she thinks she needs to see other people and he's like, what?...I'm not sure.  It's probably some 1970s-open-relationship-shag-carpet problem.

Anyways.

I'm at home drinking peppermint tea, which means I'm under the weather. But I'm still working, dammit! I keep writing a rewriting this doc to the point where it's stopped making sense. But that might be the Tylenol speaking.

Everything tastes better in cute cups.

However, I am getting a chance to use the new Ritzenhoff My Lian Dieter Braun teacups Spousal Unit got me for Xmas. They don't appear to be available in Canada, so I'm going to assume they cost him a lot. He probably shouldn't have spent that much money on cups, even if they are The Cutest. And they are somewhat matchy with my Ketto Design mug, which has apparently been discontinued (things you find out when looking for a gift for someone). Today my mug held a cup of Starbucks Via Columbian, which is marginally better than Xmas Bleuch.