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Muddy Waters Interior

Muddy Waters Latte

Muddy Waters, Geneseo, New York

Its only fair, after reviewing coffee shops in Florida, Canada, and Albany, that I conduct a review of the coffee shop in my own college town. Muddy Waters has been a hit since it opened last year (?). Today was no exception- Muddy Waters is a busy, happening coffee shop. Not to the point where one cannot loiter on their laptop with the free wifi, and I guess that's part of the beauty.

Muddy Waters, on Main Street in Geneseo, NY, is part of a chain of two. Local artwork covers the walls, black chalkboards advertise the coffees and sandwiches, and great music plays just below the volume of conversation. Muddy Waters is a perfect college student coffee shop. Macbooks and Biology textbooks (or, more appropriately, a moleskin poetry notebook) complement your coffee here. Loitering is almost encouraged, as chess boards wait near the creamer for you to procrastinate away idle hours.

I ordered (as usual) a medium Guatemalan brewed coffee with two shots of espresso. It is the an eye opening pleasure. My girlfriend ordered a Latte (with an extra shot of espresso). Muddy Waters isn't cheap, and that is without a doubt the single criticism that sticks to this place. The sandwiches, cookies, and coffees are great, served in a nice atmosphere, and the place is worth a leisurely visit.

Be sure to look out for the concerts and events hosted by Muddy Waters, Amnesty International hosted a great concert here this past winter, and its great to see a coffee shop dedicated to a good cause.
All the coffee is fair trade.

Coffee Culture in Batavia

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More Sentient Bean

The Sentient Bean

Tasting Italian Ice Cream in Niagara Falls (Ontario)

Its quite something, going from looking at alligators in the Florida everglades one week, to throwing stones that glide on the ice of a frozen river in Ontario the next. So is my good fortune, I guess.

After a sort of late night out in Niagara Falls, the morning rejuvenation desperately needed to include a coffee shop. After our GPS guiding us to a long closed establishment, we wound up at Italian Ice Cream on Victoria Avenue.

This place is but a hundred feet or so from the sign which reads "Clifton Hill, Tourist Area," but the change to a main street like hometown feel from the Disney World like Clifton Hill is noticeable.

Italian Ice Cream offers gelato, ice cream, coffee (including the obligatory Italian favorites: espressos cappuccinos lattes etc) and a bar (which, unlike Italian coffee "bars", serves alcohol).

I order an espresso macchiato, which comes out to the highly reasonable total of $1.90 Canadian. It is excellent (pictured). My friend orders a regular coffee at the also reasonable cost of $1.65. That coffee comes out disappointing, a Folgers like mediocrity, despite being from a fresh brew. Being served in a glass coffee mug is always a plus, though.

Italian Ice Cream has a sort of main street family diner feel. Pop radio plays quietly. Its not an atmosphere for sitting and working on a macbook, if you know what I mean. Its more so a family friendly ice cream shoppe with drinks and espressos for the weary and stressed parents.

An original aspect of Italian Ice Cream is the interesting cross promotion of a wedding photography business/showcase. Apparently the Italian family who owns the coffee shop has a knack for photography in their genes. For those of you interesting in perusing sample photography over some Italian gelato, meet your insanely specific match.

What's nice about italian ice cream, though nothing makes it fantastic or outstanding, is the vestiges of Italian hospitality. It is a welcome respite from the gimmicky and overpriced tourist contraptions but a few minutes walk down the road. If you want a decent espresso, with ice cream for your kids at a reasonable price, Italian Ice Cream isn't a bad bet. Just don't expect a hipster hangout a la the coffee shops of NY or Boston.

The Daily Grind In Albany

Well today was not a successful day in the world of coffee consumption for d2tg. After an unsatisfyingly watery Mcdonalds coffee on route 90 on the way to Albany, the afternoon brought yet another underwhelming coffee experience.

The Daily Grind, near the empire plaza in Albany, NY, had the sign of the kind of pretentious coffee snob coffee shop from which I thought I could satisfy my desire for a fancy and delicious micro batch roasted cup of goodness, but I got my hopes far too high.

Please don't misunderstand, the Daily Grind has some major positives. The store has retail coffees upstairs in a retail setting, with the coffee cafe downstairs. The atmosphere is pleasant, if perhaps crowded as one may expect of a basement coffee shop. The servers came across as really nice and friendly. The visual design was pleasing. Until you see the "Paul de Lima" brand coffee pots. While paul de lima is not in and of itself a bad coffee company (it has many fair trade options and some great blends), I guess I was hoping for some custom blend coffee shop roast. I had the Kenyan Coffee (the best coffee, according to the server) with turbinado sugar and non-organic half and half. It was a reasonable enough cup of coffee, not excellent, not folgers, but somewhere in between. $2.25 for a medium cup of coffee. Sandwiches, cookies and food were available and decently priced but not reviewed.

Personally, the next time I'm in Albany, I'm going to check out some of the many coffee houses near the state capital buildings, if I were to guess, the competition is a win for the consumer, controlling prices and producing better coffees, but the Daily Grind is no indication of this, and I have not been to enough to tell for sure. I may have been too busy enjoying a free ice cream cone from Ben and Jerrys.

The Sentient Bean in Savannah

On our way down to Florida, we spent a Saturday night exploring the festive streets of downtown Savannah. We stopped in a Starbucks, and the $1.50 tall (small) pike place roast is satisfying enough. We expended our caffeine buzz rocking our heads to a cover band street party of the ac dc highway to hell genre. Little did we know what delightful surprises daytime Savannah had in store.

The Sentient Bean comes across like something you would encounter in Woodstock or Ithaca. A hippie-like, designed for college age liberals feel permeates the atmosphere.

The Sentient Bean is all things fair trade, organic, and served in ecotainers. The crowd probably does their grocery shopping at whole foods market. Even the soap in the bathroom is some unlabeled herbal smelling "triclosan free" kind of product. In short, I felt right at home.

The shot in the dark is a triple espresso cut with the coffee of your choice, and comes to $2.85 for a medium. It is eye opening and excellent. The coffee selection leans toward stronger, darker brews (hooray!), and they have a wide selection of (fair trade) coffee beans by the pound.

The atmosphere is pleasant, young, and inviting. The shop caters no doubt to the students from the neighboring Savannah College of Art and Design (SCAD). The music emphasis pop chill and lounge tracks.

We didn't have any food but they offered panini style lunch and dinner options which sounded appetizing enough (let us know what you thought if you go).

Also, check out some of their almost nightly entertainment, whether its an indie band or an indie film, this is certainly a great coffee shop to check out.

Pros:
-eco friendly
-fair trade
-reasonably priced coffee

Cons:
-perhaps should also have a lighter roast available to appeal to a wider range of people.
-sandwiches are a little bit pricey.


Overall, an excellent find on the road in Savannah.

Cool Coffee in Jacksonville.

We arrived in Jacksonville Florida around 430 a.m.- and logic should have led us to immediately fall asleep, yet your d2tg team decides to stay awake until 6 for the free breakfast which accompanies our 40 dollar hotel room.
So, falling asleep at 645 and waking at 1040 to some loud noise outside our door, we are in desperate need of a cup of coffee. Having eaten breakfast before going to sleep, we wake too late for the free coffee of the hotel, so we head off into town.

We come across a quiet coffee shop (Sunday mornings are slow, they told us) in a wealthy suburb like area a few miles outside of the business district of Jacksonville. Pulp, its called, and its selling regular cups of coffee at $2.50 a cup (quite steep). But this $2.50 isn't simply for a cup of a gallon pot of joe. Rather, it is for a coffee brewed only for you, one cup at a time.

What we really liked about Pulp was the ways you could have
Your coffee made (french press, turkish (or "ibrik"), manual drip, moka pot) and the love of organic ingredients. The barista at Pulp was tremendously friendly and took time to patiently explain each brewing method to the customer. With every type of coffee we ordered was an offer of steamed organic milk (which we all declined). A classy coffee indeed.

The cup of coffee itself was excellent, though our team didn't universally have excellent coffee. I had the house blend, french press brewed, with organic half and half and turbinado sugar.

Pulp Jacksonville has a new chic feel with a particularly unique (but not coffee related) custom self serve ice cream sundae station in the back of the store. As its in Florida, we recommend you take your coffee to go and enjoy the outdoor seating in the sun.

On the job

Your d2tg team hard at work in florida.

The First Night

We arrive, tired and poor, at the Motel 6, Fredericksburg, Virginia. It seems your d2tg team is saving our funds for web design and pretentious and overpriced lattes (which are oh so worth it).

The paper thin walls heighten our appreciation of the prison cell like college dorms from which we just escapes. To keep this P.G., I'll just leave it the description as something which brings "too much information" to a new extreme.

To our total indifference, we discover that this particular Motel 6 lacks coffee makers. As a general rule, unless the hotel is the intercontinental and the in room coffee maker is a keurig coffee machine, avoid it. The coffee is rarely fresh, the machine often dispensing a light brown liquid...when you are trying to make hot water for tea.

Oh the life of a low budget college student. So we're off to grab some waffle house coffee, wish us luck!

On the Road! (Courtesy of Coffee)

Alas, Downtotheground is taking two members of our blog team to Florida to umm "research" or "take a tax deductible work trip to explore coffee." We plan to conduct a case study in doing a 20 hour road trip thanks to the magic of coffee and the liver destroying beauty of energy drinks. Followed by 8 hard working days of experimenting with the concept of "blogging from a pool raft." If it seems dangerous, its because it is.

Anyway, thanks to the wallet sucking wonder of Verizon Wireless, we can blog while on the road, real time, with all too many personal details and overexposure. Learn what we had for dinner! Discover what we thought of the audio-book reading of Asimov!

Most importantly, and the reason, no doubt, that you are here, is our exploration of coffee culture in the land of Waffle Houses and Chick-Fil-a's! Its possible that we may deviate somewhat from a focus on independent coffee houses for the chain brands ala Starbucks, Dunkin Donuts, and Krispy Kreme, yet we review and explore all things coffee, from the individuality of Ninth Street Espresso to the corporate, faux parisian coffeehouse au bon pain.

What wonders will we encounter? What sights will we see? Join your Downtotheground team on route I 95 as we make sure you can get from NYC to Kissimmee on a full charge of d2tg approved coffee.

Getting Down to the Ground off the ground

Forgive the pun.

It is a struggle to found a business. To quote a recent New Yorker article "failed entrepreneurs tend to start from scratch." I charge to you, however, that this will indeed prove to be a successful enterprise. The market exists (300 million cups a day in the United States alone!), the will exists, and the low upfront costs of a web based hobby business certainly exist.

it looks like d2tg will miss the March 1st self imposed deadline for becoming a fully fledged website, but we have something up with the blogs and footwork being done. 'tis only a matter of time, my friends, until d2tg launches, complete with blogs, podcasts, short story contests, and all sorts of fabulous things.

We are working on finishing the template for the website, all the while adding blog posts and researching coffee. It is a work in progress, but it is indeed "in progress."

On a personal note, I totally just won 12 dollars playing texas hold em, which means we are 12 dollars closer to paying for the hosting of an online store.

The Way Your Not Supposed to DIY an Online Business

So much of learning is making a mistake and learning not to repeat the error. Case in point, one should not DIY (do-it-yourself) an entire online business with an in progress bachelors in political science and no business experience.

To lay out the business strategy for downtotheground.com, we buy an Idiot's Guide to starting an online business, purchase Adobe Creative Suite 4, think of a cool domain name, and desperately hope that creativity and perseverance take us the rest of the way.

I mean, there is some talent and good opportunity available to us as we start this venture- we have writers in New York City, New Orleans, Italy and France. We have a knowledge of global coffee culture that extends from Ghana and Brazil to Finland and Australia. We have several witty, talented writers who make for a good read, and we have a vision of a digital coffee shop which currently does not exist and for which there is a market. So its not shooting in the dark...at least not completely.

Probably the best thing we have going for us is the simple and sheer love of coffee. We have our reasons, some love the taste, others love the effects of caffeine, and still others love the social atmosphere of a coffee break, like a less cancerous cigarette attraction, if you will.

So maybe the adventure of getting to an up and running a digital coffee shop will be as entertaining and engaging as the finished product, who knows, but I hope you stick around for the ride.

Thanks,

-Nicholas

First Post

Welcome to the world of common coffee critic blogging! Join me as I taste different coffee shops, coffee cultures, and cups of joe from around the world.