Shemp Howard ..
Yelp
I'd been wanting to try this place for a long time. So many people talk about it. The vibe is really cool. Very chill. They have what Starbucks lacks: a welcoming sense that they want you to stay, and where you also want to stay. The chairs and benches however were extremely hard and I thought uncomfortable. But it was such a friendly and inviting place.
At first I was bothered by the pace of operations. Nobody was in a rush, and it took about 20 mins to get my latte. But then I started to appreciate it. This not a grab 'n go coffee joint. This is a relax and take it all in, slowly, community coffee shop. I appreciated that the employees weren't frantic and stressed out and they were just focused doing good work, being friendly, and not overwhelmed with fast paced pressures. The employees were exceedingly friendly as well. Everything slows down for you when you come here, and I mean that in a positive way. The ambiance relaxes you.
Onto the coffee. They have the option for ceramic or paper cups, and they did very nice latte art. They also had very cute metal spoons available. The blend they used for espresso is the Space Traveller blend, which is a mix of washed Guatemalan and Ethiopian natural. I roast and know coffee very well, and I could tell from the flavor profile in the latte (chocolate, lightly roasted nuts, vanilla) that there was a very small amount of Ethiopian natural in the blend. It was mostly washed Guatemalan, and the mild taste and relative lack of body reflected that. For me, it was a good-not-great latte. Lighter bodied than Starbucks, and better bean quality. But I'm not so sure about the choice of mostly washed process beans for an espresso blend. They won't produce much crema or body, which to me are absolute requirements for espresso blends.
They don't have low-fat milk and they don't have artificial sweeteners. And for their crowd, that seemed to be ok, but I try to watch calories, so I wish they did.
All in all, this was a really inviting, friendly, and unique coffee shop that makes me want to go back. More for the vibe than the coffee itself though.