November 3, 2009 by andai
Now that I have been running this site for a while, I feel that the time is right to start the next phase of GFBO. The first thing I will be doing is moving this site from the free, WordPress hosted site to a self hosted WordPress site. There are a few reasons for this, but the two main reasons are, first, I will have a lot more flexibility to use much more slicker and complex WP theme. Second but closely related is that the move will allow me to use additional plugins, addons, widgets and scripts that are either not available on the current site or are not allowed.
The bottom line is that the move will give me better control over the look and feel and functionality of the site and also open up the ability to share and consume additional related content with like minded sites….
Finally, I am getting a domain name that better reflects the subject matter and content of this site then the current domain name ahaikuaday.com… There is a long story of how this site’s domain name came to be ahaikuaday.com and someday when I’m not too lazy I will post to details…
Posted in Beverage Banter | Leave a Comment »
October 12, 2009 by andai
All City Coffee has at least two locations in the Seattle area. Their flagship store is the one located in George town and the second store is located in downtown Seattle, in the Pioneer Square area. I had ‘been to’ the George town location a couple of years ago but I don’t really remember much about it. And even after I had been to visited the Pioneer Square location on more than a few times, it took me a while to actually make the connection… more so after I was looking at my collection of coffee shop signs is when I remembered having taken a picture of this sign a while back.
Being more familiar with the Pioneer Square location, I find the interior decor to be rather interesting in that in addition to the seating at the main level, there is a small fight of stairs that leads to am retro lounge type area which though unwalled gives users a some level of privacy, while at the same time will does not feel isolating from the rest of the room. Its a nice place to hang out if you wanted to be in the place but yet away and secluded from the rest of the place.
I had always assumed that All City Coffee were basically a coffee roasting company. I don’t know why… but I did. So I was rather surprised to find that not only do they not roast thier own coffee, but they actually get their coffee from Caffé Vita. Not that Caffé Vita is bad, not by any means. In fact All City Coffee actually do a pretty decent job with their coffee. I think the problem for me is, as I have said before, there are way too many coffee shops in Seattle the serve Caffé Vita coffee beans and so after a while, there isn’t really anything that will differentiate one coffee shop serving Caffe Vita from another coffee shop that also serves Caffé Vita. That’s just my own little take…
I guess the bottom line is, even though they do make decent coffee, there are at least five coffee shops or coffeehouses within short walking distance where I can try espresso made from beans other than Caffé Vita. These coffeehouses include Trabant, Café Umbria, Zeitgeist, Frontier Coffee and the Elliot Bay Bookstore Cafe. An so the problem is that I don’t find myself going to All City Coffee often.
But that being said, it actually is a nice space to lounge and enjoy an espresso… and if you have a chance, do go check it out and let me know what you think
Posted in Coffee, Tea & Hot Chocolate, Coffeehouses & Shops, Reviews, north america | Tagged all city coffee, cafe umbria, caffé vita, elliot bay bookstore cafe, frontier coffee, george town, pioneer square, seattle, trabant, zeitgeist | Leave a Comment »
October 10, 2009 by andai
What I also like about Vios Cafe is that it has a small marketplace very similar to that of Volunteer Park Café and Marketplace where you can by various Greek foodstuffs and ingredients you can take home to prepare your own meal.
What I also find interesting about my dining experiences with Vios though is that all these years (well there not that many but enough anyway) that I have been going there with family and friends for dinner, it was only the last couple of times I was there, maybe three or four months back that I actually did start ordering lattes… I don’t normally order lattes will dinner because I find them already filling, but I had to order at Vios because I was interested in seeing just to see how they stacked up to the coffeehouses in the area.
Vios has two locations, one in the Capital Hill area and the other in the Ravenna neighborhood. The one in Capital hill is a proper stand along cafe while the one in Ravenna is connected to Third Place Books, making it a fun place to visit as you can get your coffee and hang out in the bookstore if you are not interested in sitting in the dining area.
But I think the most interesting thing about Vios is the fact thatthey, i.e. both locations, serve illy coffee. Now just in case you don’t know illy, they are an Italian coffee roaster. Bein that Viso is a Greek restaurant, and a really great one at that, I would have thought that they would be serving the finest in Greek (or Greeek style) coffees… but they don’t.
Regardless, I think their coffee is actually decent. I have ordered it on quite a few occasions when having lunch or dinner there. And I have been relatively happy with the coffee that I got. It was nice and strong, good foam and well made. And being that this is Cafe Vita and Stumptown territory, it is nice to have outlets that serve something different. Illy is one of those coffees that I don’t get to try often, and this is simply because there are not too many places in the Seattle area, that I know of, that do serve that particular brand of coffee.
The main problem I have though is that Vios, at least the one on Capital hill, are not open in the morning, which is the time that I usually have my initial coffee cravings. As I have mentioned before, I tend not to like drinking lattes and such with dinner so whenever I go to Viso for dinner, lattes are usually the last thing on my mind. The other issue is Fuel. The original Fuel Coffee location is just a couple of blocks away from the Vios location and when I happen to be in the area looking for coffee, I find myself going to Fuel pretty much more often than I would go to Vios…. and so it pretty hard for me to go to Vios strictly for the coffee.
But I would certainly encourage you to give the place a try… and maybe ask for Greek style coffee and see what they say 
Posted in Beverage Banter, Coffee, Tea & Hot Chocolate, Coffeehouses & Shops, north america | Tagged caffé vita, capital hill, greek restaurant, illy, illy coffee, ravenna, seattle, Stumptown, vios, vios cafe & marketplace, volunteer park café and marketplace | Leave a Comment »
This has nothing to do with the coffee being bad or anything like that. Rather it just the atmosphere and the décor of Local Color is not something that I feel. The other part of it is the fact that a lot of the people who hang out there seem to be the touristy kind and clearly being that Local Color is located in Pike Place Market, one would expect that a large number of the clientele would be tourists and visitors in bad shorts, ugly sandals and Hawaiian shirts. Places with these sorts of customers do not really appeal to me as a place that I personally want to hang out and chill.
Now that being said, I think the biggest reason I don’t go there much is because Local Color serves Caffé Vita coffee beans. Now I know that for some, Caffé Vita is local favorite. But for me I think I have been to one too many coffee shops here in Seattle that serves Caffé Vita and they all seem to serve the same blend i.e. the Del Sol blend and quite frankly I am tired of it. Now if they served something like Caffé D’Arté or Café Umbria or even Fonté or Bartdof & Bronson coffees, I wouldn’t hang out there, but I would certainly go there to get my latte to go. But being that they are a Caffé Vita shop, I am not really compelled to go there at all.
To be fair I have to say that the owner of the place is a really nice and friendly lady and from my own casual observation she seems be doing somewhat decent business. I would certainly say that if you do like Caffé Vita, or even of you don’t really care too much about the coffee roaster but you simply want some decent espresso drinks, that I would say by all means do go checkout the place. Certainly, there are plenty of folks who go there often to get their espresso drinks and a touch of local color.
Posted in Beverage Banter, Coffee, Tea & Hot Chocolate, Coffeehouses & Shops, north america | Tagged art, cafe del sol, caffé vita, local color, pike place market, seattle | Leave a Comment »
It also happens that whenever I tend to find myself in the Ballard or Queen Ann neighborhoods (I have no idea where Sunset Hill is), I am not necessarily in the mood for coffee, having satisfied my cravings earlier in the day. As much as I love coffee and I do drink a lot of it, I still have to be in the right mindset to get another cup especially when its in the afternoon or evening.
What makes it even trickier now though is that Top Pot, another of my favorite coffee shops, or more accurately a donuts shop that sells great coffee, recently opened up their third retail space just a block away from the Caffé Fioré location on Queen Ann… So I sit there perplexed… thinking.. arrghh… what do I choose? Do I go for great donuts and coffee at Top Pot? Do I go for great coffee at Caffé Fioré? Someone tell me what I should do!!!
One thing though about Caffé Fioré that I really like is the interior decor. I really love the orange and muted brown colors that seem to give the place great ambient lighting and a relaxing atmosphere. The place on Queen Ann, which is the one that I tend to visit, always has some students studying quietly in there with their cups of coffee, text books, calculators and WI-FI.
I do think their coffee is good. Its been a while since I was there so I can’t really describe it much but I can tell you that if the coffee was bad, I would certainly have remembered and made a mental note, not to visit there again. Unfortunately, other than the fact that they supposedly serve organic coffee, I can’t really tell you much about their coffees, where they get it from, whose their roaster and all that, but when I go back there next, I will be updating this post will all the details.
Posted in Beverage Banter, Coffee, Tea & Hot Chocolate, Coffeehouses & Shops, north america | Tagged ballard, caffé fioré, caffé vita, organic coffee, organic coffeehouse, queen ann, seattle, sunset hill, wa, washington, Washington State | Leave a Comment »
