‘Coffee shops’ Archives
A love affair with coffee shops – The Biscuit in Somerville
It was spring, freshman year. By then, the Cambridge frost had receded from the cobblestone, and warm air spilled out from T stop as you walked by. To cheer myself up, I'd appoint myself in a wrap dress and green wedge sandals, the ones my mother bought me from China, and slip on a pair of $10 sunglasses. Then I'd find a coffeeshop. And I'd sit there, feeling the caffeine ooze into my blood, [...]
Harvard Square Cafes: the definitive guide
Harvard Square is home not only to a lot of foot-fetishizing Japanese tourists and uppity academics, but also an overwhelming number of cafes. For real cafe die-hards, these businesses are much more than a coffee dispenser. (I'm looking at you, the one nursing your $3 latte for 6 hours.) Here's to admitting that your trapped-on-a-desert-island essentials include your Macbook, a wi-fi connection, [...]
My favorite secret study spot in Harvard Square: Karma Tea
I may regret letting this one out of the bag, but Karma Tea on Mass Ave is a truly magical study nook. While it may be better known for the yoga studio attached to it, the floor-to-ceiling windows, rock sculptures, and comfy faux-suede chairs are every bit as zenergizing as the physical exertions in the studio upstairs. They carry vegan muffins from Veggie Planet (haven't sampled these, but [...]
Starbucks in China: The Good, The Bad, and the Sugarfree
While Starbucks is sometimes seen as a monolithic coffeeslinger to the upwardly mobile masses, the coffee chain's branches abroad don't entirely conjure up home. Though it's mostly a deliciously familiar task of navigating between tall, grande, and venti, be it NYC or Shanghai, I felt alienated at times without my standby sugarfree option and decent English magazines. (I wrote about how much I [...]
Awesome egg sandwiches, tripe-laden bowls of pho, and Lingbo in a beesuit.
This was a oozy, flaky breakfast sandwich ($3.50) from Crema Cafe, who turns out a mean breakfast sandwich (as well as zuchinni hazelnut loaf and brownie). The english muffin is homemade. I kind of regret eating it, because a Thomas english muffin will just never be the same. Maybe it is just because it's toasted. Toasted is absolutely key. Big bowl'o'noodles from Le's in the Garage in [...]
A Brownie that Makes my Stony Heart Melt
There's nothing quite like a good brownie to make the final paper blues go away. This decadent steal of a half-brownie ($1.25) subscribes to a more "cake" brownie rather than a fudgey one. That means that each luscious little crumb is like the most densely velvety constellation of cake heaven in your mouth. It crumbles, it melts. It's magical. I keep tearing off tiny little bits and eating the [...]
Some food porn from Harvard Square
Sometimes a foodie has to write a lot of papers (churned out 35 pages of writing, only another 20 to go by Friday!) and she just wants to post some photos... so here are some I've taken in the past few weeks. I adore oysters, the aftertaste of sea, the freshness and briny goodness cut through a zingy squirt of lemon. Add some good company, and it's a party. Also posted to the lovely [...]
Cafe Pamplona
Cafe Pamplona, a charming, yellow-painted cafe in Harvard Square, is the kind of place where you read your literature coursepack with a tiny cup of coffee (try the shot of espresso, shot of condensed milk combo). Due to its small space and close tables, this is a poor place to have a serious conversation or first date if it isn't crowded enough and every awkward revelation is made very, very [...]
Potato leek soup at Crema Cafe in Harvard Square
I love simple dinners like this, where a mere 3.50 gets you a creamy bowl of comfort food with a fresh slice of airy, homemade focaccia. I realized when I sat down that the soup had a rich dollop of sour cream in the middle and a few strips of fried onion garnish, just to make it that much more luxurious. I scraped the sides and licked my spoon clean. Mmm. Apologies for the crappy Photobooth [...]
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