I can't make coffee to save myself. Its much more of a case that I don't actually know how, rather than I lack the basic fundamental skills to heat water and beans together to make a drinkable concoction. Its a key part of my education that is lacking. Sort of like a fatherless boy who never learned to play catch or how to fish, I never learned how to make coffee.
I'm not sure why this gap in my childhood teaching exists. Its not as if my family never drank coffee. I think the problem lies in that I never drank coffee, and was never interested in learning. For so long it seemed like something I was happy not knowing how to do.
The problem of course lies in my adult years with entertaining guests. I may be able to offer you 27 different types of tea (blackberry vanilla, cranberry pomegranate, cinnamon vanilla, bengal spice, lemon zinger, cranberry apple zinger, bella coola, sleepytime, almond, panfired darjeeling, summer berry, orange peach, cranberry, island mango and peach, raspberry passion fruit, blueberry pomegranate, bavarian wildberry, chai, pumpkin spice, green, mango passionfruit green, pomegranate green, vanilla chai, chocolate caramel chai, earl grey, and holiday chai, for the record - and the last one only if I really like you), but it is sans coffee at my place.
Another problem arose a few years back when I was at work and my employer asked if I would throw a pot of coffee on so that we could have something to offer the people who were coming to our place of employment for a meeting. I was then faced with the dilemma of trying to create a palatable - heck, I would have settled with survivable - cup of joe. And wondering if anyone has ever been fired for poisoning the rest of the staff.
But on the upside, not knowing how to make a cup of coffee has left me on the search for the best places in town for caffienation. My coffee-making deficiency, coupled with the fact that I am a student who is always looking for a good place to study and a pick-me-up for those 27 hour study sessions, of course.
So to celebrate my recently found freedom following my FINAL set of final exams, here is a breakdown of some of the places in town for caffeine. I am always discovering more, and I have recently discovered my knowledge is pitifully insufficient, so bear with me.
10th and Temperance
This is a cute little shop stuck in a weird little sliver between roads. It is an art gallery and coffee shop in one, and boasts (well I'm not sure if they do, but they should) the best london fog in the city. At least so far that I have tried. I haven't yet tried anything else there, but the fog is reason enough to go. The atmosphere is busy and comfortable, and I was quite content to windle away a few hours of studying. Just a word of advice, if you want a quiet sit-down: don't sit in the table in the corner by the window. You will constantly get little children milling around you and staring at you wistfully, and just when you start to wonder if you've made some magical transformation into Santa Claus, you realize that you've chosen the seat blocking the toy box.
10th and Broadway
There is a closer location to my home which is perfect for the coffee on the go. But I like this spot because it is more of an actual store, rather than a grinder and a few baristas thrown into a hole that they carved out between a bank and parking lot. Its busy, as most Starbucks are, but it can be good for a bit of group studying and quizzing. Or people watching. People that come to this store tend to know one another, and it can be entertaining to listen to them catch up or gossip about what's new. If you're stuck on what to order and don't mind going caffeine-free (and this goes for all locations, of course) may I recommend the caramel apple spice. You may want to go half-syrup, no whip but its like apple pie in a cup. Wonderful.
CITY PERK
7th and Princess
There is no drink here I have found that is absolutely stellar and demands recommendation. But this is good because it allows me the opportunity to continue to try new drink options. The patio, however, is really quite nice and relaxing, especially when you've just completed your last final and are waiting to have a few drinks with your friends. This place is always packed, so the nicer weather and the open patio frees things up a bit when otherwise you might be forced to take things to go. They offer a pretty good little lunch menu, and I have been told their muffins are amazing (I have yet to try so I will share this opinion with a grain of salt).
Agriculture Building, UofS
This is more a place of convenience rather than awesomeness. Its just a little kiosk, which means they don't offer all the selection of goodies you may want. But when you have 10 minutes between classes and you can't stand to see another MRI image, this little spot will seem like a godsend. Unless of course you are thinking what everyone else in a four-building radius is thinking and there is a 15 minute line-up. Sometimes it pays to be a bit late if it means staying awake in class. Especially if you have a teacher who likes to call out your name repeatedly if he thinks you are sleeping/not paying attention/talking/etc. And with his thick accent you may not hear him the first three times until time number four when you start to wonder why whatever microbial organism he is talking about sort of sounds a bit like your name.
