I’ve Moved!

Hello All! I’ve started a new blog! It’s called College Foodie Guide, and it has the same vision of this blog with the added feature of being a quest for the best food in the world on a budget!

Join me on my new site as I move into my new future 🙂

Best Buttermilk Pancake Recipe

One of the things I missed most about being home (besides the people I was dying to see) was being able to cook and bake things for myself again. While I was living in France, so the food I was eating was great, sometimes going out to a restaurant every day unless I just wanted a banana got a bit tiring. Needless to say I got right back into the cooking habit of things when I got back home!

And of course, something that I tend to always make when I’m home is fresh buttermilk pancakes. And we’ve done extensive (and delicious) research on which buttermilk is the best to make these pancakes with: Katie’s Farm Fresh from Maine Real Buttermilk.

I tend to always put some sort of fruit in mine, but I know my sister loves what I call “double chocolate chip”, which is both chocolate chips in the batter and chocolate chips on top. I usually use a measuring cup to put each type of ingredient in before I cover them with batter. This way, the extras are covered with batter and not just floating on top and I don’t have to make multiple batches of batter!

Something my parents have always had in the house that is my favorite thing ever is the griddle pan. It means you get a flat top griddle that goes across two stove tops and cooks up to 8 mini pancakes at a time! On the other side is the griddle is a grill pan, so it’s dual functioning, I love it!

The pancakes come out fresh and crisp with a soft, fluffy center, and with real maple syrup, they’re really delicious.

The recipe is super easy and very low stress, so I tend to make these first thing when I wake up and I’m still in my glasses, pjs, and still-sleeping mental state. It always wakes me up on the right side of the bed 🙂

Buttermilk Pancakes (adapted from The Breakfast Book)

3 tbsp butter, melted, set aside

1 cup buttermilk and 1 egg, combined

3/4 cup of flour, 1 tsp baking soda, and 1/2 tsp salt, mixed together

Add butter to buttermilk-egg mixture while stirring so that the hot butter doesn’t cook the egg.

Add the flour mixture to the wet ingredients, and don’t over mix it! You still want the mixture to be a little clumpy. For thinner pancakes, you can mix an extra second (and if you’re making them as small as I do, they’ll crisp up a little easier on the edges).

If you want to add some ingredients to it, but not everyone wants flavored pancakes, you can do what I do for my family: using a half cup measure, take about 1/4 cup of batter, pour in a handful of berries (for example), and then pour the new mixture onto the griddle. That way, the berries have a tiny barrier of batter between them and the pan, and they’re more likely to stay in the pancake when you flip them over!

Pour the batter onto the pan and wait to flip them until the edges look less raw. Try to only flip the pancakes once to keep the pancakes as light and fluffy as possible!

Best Pastries in Paris

Taking a look back over my 5 months in Paris, going back through my old blog photos, I decided now was the perfect time to do a retrospective of my favorite pastry experiences in Paris. While these are obviously not the only options available in the city and these do not include pastries that I ate too quickly to take a picture of, this list includes the places I went back to more than once (breaking my rule) and the places I keep drooling over and recommend to people who are going to Paris. This is the short list (as short as I can make it):

Croissants from Poilâne

While the croissant itself may look to be less yummy than some others that you might see in any patisserie on the street, trust me, the minute you put a piece of this croissant (as close to the early morning as you can get one since it will be fresher) you won’t be able to eat another croissant without comparing to that of Poilâne.

While you’re there, you might as well pick up a quarter (“quart” pronounced “car”) of the pain de campagne (those giant breads with a P carved into them) or a tiny rustic apple tartlette. Both of those are delicious as well.

Éclair from Carl Marletti

This little hole-in-the-wall shop just off the end of Rue Mouffetard smells delicious as soon as you get close. While you may walk past it the first time, you will not be able to miss the aroma. There’s a kitchen working in the back of this little shop that keeps churning out such delicacies, but my clear favorite is the éclair caramel au beurre salé.

It’s absolutely delicious, and the extra sugar crunch on the outside of the pâte au chou makes it a cut above in the delicious department, and the cream inside is to die for. While the chocolate one is better than any chocolate éclair I had anywhere else, the caramel éclair is just superb.

Pasteis from Comme à Lisbonne

While it may seem strange that I’m recommending a Portuguese delicacy as a necessary stop in Paris, but I swear this is the best pasteis I have had outside of Lisbon. If you’re not planning on making it to Portugal anytime soon, pick up one of these warm custard filled pastries.

It’s only 2 euros, always warm, and dusted with cinnamon (always say “oui” to cannelle), and the pastry from this tiny store in the Marais never disappoints. It only sells pasteis and coffee, so you know you’re getting the best every time, and they make new batches all day, so if they’re running out, they’ll soon replace it with piping hot pasteis. Plus, this little store (and most of the Marais) is open on Sundays, meaning you can pick one up on the down days in Paris.

Tartelette au citron (Lemon tartlet) from Arnaud Delmontel

On the lively Rue des Martyrs, this fabulous patisserie has a display window with a line of these perfect yellow domes amidst the other pastries.

While the pastry itself may seem like it would be dense or rich, this citrusy pastry cream melts away and leaves with an airiness that leaves you satisfied but wanting more. It’s perfect.

And it’s beautiful to boot.

Popelini from Popelini

This up-and-coming pastry seems to be heading toward taking over the macaron fad in Paris, so watch out for these little goodies. They’re like the best cream puff you’ve ever had.

They come in a bunch of flavors, and the packaging of these treats is really aesthetically pleasing. The place only sells Popelini (hence the name), so you know you’re getting the best. Now there are more locations springing up all over Paris, so you won’t have to go up to Rue des Martyrs to pick up one (or a few) of these treats.

Saint Honoré from La Patisserie des Rêves

This pastry is unreal, as if from a dream (see what I did there? relating the name of the place to the fantasticalness of the desserts it sells?). The flaky pastry topped with sweet cream and caramel covered cream puffs is decadent to say the least.

While there are obviously many other great options available in this futuristic-looking patisserie, the Saint Honoré is both the most daunting and the most rewarding.

Carrot Cake from Sugarplum Cake Shop

If you’ve been in France for a while (like I was) and were desperately craving some great American desserts, look no further than the great American bakery, Sugarplum Cake Shop. Everything they serve screams America, and they prepare each treat the way it should be, with great ingredients, picture perfect presentation, and love.

From rice krispie treats and cheese cake to muffins and peanut butter bars, almost any American dessert prepared the right way can be found here. You’re met with a friendly “Hello” when you walk in, and with the cake and coffee, you may never want to leave.

Tarte au Citron Meringuée from Le Loir dans la Théière

While the mile-high meringue may seem insurmountable, the tarte is definitely an experience (even without being able to finish the pile of fluff on top of the lemon tart).

Le Loir dans la Théière is a great place to get brunch, lunch, or a snack in the Marais, selling great tartes both savory and sweet. The freshest of ingredients are used to create these fresh tartes, making them taste that much better. While this isn’t a place where you can easily come in and take something to go, but it’s worth a break from a hard day of walking (and it’s delicious to boot)!

Millefeuille à la Minute from Jacques Génin

This new craze about the millefeuille made to order is starting to circulate, but the only one that I have heard fabulous things about (and can corroborate) is the one from Jacques Génin. While this man is already a famous chocolatier, with deLIcious chocolates and caramels (pick up a bunch of those), his pastries are also delicacies themselves.

By filling the delicious, flaky pastry with luscious pastry cream and a raspberry coulis (if you order the raspberry one as I did), he creates a fantastic treat that comes out slightly different every time. This treat is an expensive one, I’ll give you that, but the atmosphere of the room and the deliciousness of the treat might overpower the price.

Overall, the pastries in Paris are delicious, and this is not a complete list, but this is the start to a lifelong journey of finding the best of the best.

Addresses:

Poilâne

8, rue du Cherche-Midi (6ème)

Carl Marletti

51, rue Censier (5ème)

Comme à Lisbonne

37, rue du Roi de Sicile (4ème)

Arnaud Delmontel

39, rue des Martyrs (9ème)

Popelini

44, rue des Martyrs (9ème)

La Patisserie des Rêves

93, rue du Bac (7ème)

Sugarplum Cake Shop

68, rue Cardinal Lemoine (5ème)

Le Loir dans la Théière

3, rue des Rosiers (4ème)

Jacques Génin

133, rue de Turenne (3ème)

Thanksgiving for Twenty Four

Holiday time is where family gathers together to talk and hang out, but mostly to eat. And boy, did my family eat this Thanksgiving. We had 20 people over to our house for dinner, so we were cooking and baking for 24 people.

Of course, there were the classics: Turkey, pumpkin pie, cranberry sauce, creamy mashed potatoes, gravy, stuffing, pumpkin muffins, and cornbread but there were some new additions this year keeping to the same holiday theme: brussels sprouts, rainbow carrots, corn pudding, sweet potato pie, and chocolate truffles.

The turkey was from a super mega ultra simple recipe: use about 2 tablespoons of olive oil and the juice of half a lemon per side of the turkey to season it. Decorate with paprika for both looks and a bit of taste. Leave the lemons inside the turkey when you cook it. Baste the turkey every 25 minutes or so until it is fully cooked. Super simple, super delicious.

The gravy made from this is also super easy. Put the pan with about half the drippings in it over the stove. Heat it up with about 2 heaping tablespoons of flour. Add the rest of the drippings back in and let it boil for a while.

Our mashed potato recipe is equally easy. Boil potatoes until soft, mash until you reach the consistency desired, heat up milk and butter together until butter is melted (about 1 stick of butter for 7 pounds of potatoes), add into the mashed potatoes parts at a time, mix with salt and pepper to taste and serve.

Then came the stuffing. While my family didn’t make either version which was brought to our house, the two versions that showed up promised to be equally easy to make and delicious to eat.

 

Of course, there were veggies too, cooked to keep them as simple as possible. And the rainbow carrots were a fun addition because they were just so darn pretty!

 

And of course, we can’t forget the desserts! Pumpkin mini muffins and pumpkin pie, both made with Williams & Sonoma’s Pumpkin Pecan Butter. Sweet potato pie with roasted sweet potatoes and handmade crust. Chocolate truffles dusted with a holiday spice blend (cinnamon, nutmeg, clove, and ginger). And  caramel apple gingerbread and pear lemon tarts brought by a few of our guests. Overall, desserts were pretty spectacular (and I was pretty proud of the pies I made).

 

Happy Thanksgiving, everyone!

 

 

Cooking in a Dorm Room

This year, I finally have a kitchen in my dorm suite, so naturally I’ve been taking advantage of the fact that I can start to cook for myself! Although I haven’t been able to do too many fancy projects because of my insanely crazy schedule, sometimes I am able to take a break and make a little something for me and my roommates.

One of my favorite memories so far was on the morning of Hurricane Sandy, we were all sitting in the room together, me and my roommates, and I happened to have some leftover buttermilk from a recipe of cupcakes I have made a few days before. I poked my head out from the fridge and asked the room, “If I made pancakes, would people want some?” The answer was a resounding. “Absolutely!” and I made a double batch of my favorite buttermilk pancake recipe from The Breakfast Book by Marion Cunningham, most of them containing chocolate chips. It was an amazing morning to have a kitchen.

In addition to just random times that I decide to make something, me and a friend of mine, Priscilla, have decided it would be a fun Friday treat to come back to my room and bake something delicious before our class. So of course, every Friday since the beginning of classes, we’ve made a little something, mostly containing pumpkin because of the time of year.

One of our biggest undertakings with a pumpkin smores cake. Originally it called for marshmallow frosting, but since we lacked cream of tartar, we improvised and made a cream cheese frosting and extra chocolate ganache (making it a very messy treat). It turned out delicious, and incredibly memorable.

Because of our newfound prowess in baking together, Priscilla and I decided to enter into the Food Day baking contest! We found a simple recipe online for pumpkin cupcakes and I improvised a cinnamon mascarpone frosting (mascarpone, cinnamon, confectioner’s sugar, a bit of milk). It came out really well (despite the fact that I spilled vegetable oil directly onto the keyboard of my computer, it’s not working so great anymore…) and we got a lot of compliments on them! We did not win, unfortunately (beat out by the sweet potato cupcakes, who used more local ingredients), but they still looked and tasted really yummy, we were very proud 🙂

Overall, I’m loving our kitchen so far. I’m sure there are more fun adventures to come, and hopefully more family dinners to show! 

Best of Belfast, ME

Well, it’s been a while since I’ve posted anything! I’m back at school, and Colby is in full swing, meaning I don’t have very much time to either update or explore. But sometimes I get out to special daytrips that help me to get to know the Maine I’m surrounded with. The most recent day trip: Belfast!

Why Belfast? Well, there’s this fantastic restaurant that has received the James Beard award as well as recognition among foodies for having fabulous food, a colorful farmer’s market, a relaxed atmosphere, and no meat! Its name: Chases’s Daily.

That’s right, it’s a vegetarian’s paradise! Not that I’m vegetarian anymore, but I would much rather have something with veggies than anything with bacon or ham. So this place was just so fun because I felt like I could order anything on the menu!

It felt very casual and you can not only walk in and eat but also walk to the back and get some grocery shopping done. The fresh, local ingredients are there for the purchasing, so many people had bags of multicolored lettuce or peppers or potatoes or even a bouquet of wildflowers.

We also stopped by John’s Homemade Ice Cream! Even though the main store is outside of Belfast, there is a store in the town center that sells some of the flavors.

This homemade ice cream has classic flavors that just taste right and homemade, just like in the title. It is definitely worth a taste 🙂

Belfast itself is just a cute town to hang out in, full of galleries and bookstores and cute shops. It’s worth the drive just for the cuteness, if not for the little foodie haven!

Chase’s Daily

96 Main St

Belfast, ME 04915

John’s Homemade Ice Cream

510 Belfast Augusta Rd

Liberty, ME 04949

Best Macarons in Paris

While the craze for these petite treats is going from firey passion to fizzling spark, I figured I would get my two cents in while the going was still at least lukewarm.

I tried to taste macarons wherever I went during my year abroad, and I definitely was able to figure out which ones were great, which were ok, and which I would not call a macaron by the end of my nine months. There were a few places I kept going back to and of course there were ones that were unforgettable. Here are my favorites of any ones I tried in Paris:

Pierre Hermé

This master of pastry not only sells delicious macarons, but also some of the fanciest desserts I had in Paris. He is world renowned as the creator of fantastical renditions of traditional treats as well as new twists on old favorites. Everything he creates is obviously yummy, but it’s his macarons that originally made him famous to other people who weren’t pastry chefs!

The flavors of these range from the classic (caramel, raspberry…) to the kooky (olive oil, asparagus…) but all of the flavors are equally great. The cookie is the perfect blend of crunchy and soft, the fillings are fresh and natural, and the presentation is, as expected, superb.

This is my number one choice of anywhere to get a macaron in Paris, topping traditional favorites like Ladurée and Gerard Mulot. Now, onto the other recs 🙂

Ladurée

While you may be considered a tourist for holding the famous mint green bag, it’s worth it to pick up of few of their delicate macarons. This famous patisserie has now expand into an international chain (with a post in New York City (!!!!)), so it’s no longer a Paris original, but it definitely tastes better on this side of the ocean.

The macarons they make are definitely worth the price, but sometimes I feel like they’re not worth waiting in the long line. Yes, they’re yummy, but they’re much smaller than those of their competitors at Pierre Hermé and have less originality in the flavors. They seem to have stopped trying to create the new and focused on trying to expand. They are content with living up to the expectations of tourists instead of trying to exceed them, which is a real shame since with a touch more of creativity, they could have maintained their top spot in my list.

I have to say this, though: the fact that they fill their caramel macarons with actually caramel au beurre salé instead of a caramel flavored cream puts that macaron at the top of any list (even above Pierre Hermé). Stop in just to pick up one of those (although be prepared to wait in a long line of tourists).

Carrette

This fancy salon de thé right by the Trocadero (with the best view of the Eiffel Tower) has a glitzy take-away counter right inside, past all the glamorous people eating their fancy treats with tiny cups of espresso. And from there, you can get their macarons to go.

The macarons themselves are both beautiful to look at and yummy to eat, plus you can pick up a bag of them and walk right over to the Eiffel Tower and stare at its glory while you munch on these delicacies.

While they may not top the list in either texture or flavor, their location alone is a reason to stop in for these cute treasures. And they’re delicious, so that’s a plus!

Gerard Mulot

A household name in Paris, the man produces some more reasonably priced macarons in imaginative flavors and colorful presentation. His store sells both the sweet and the savory (a cross of a patisserie and a boulangerie), so it’s a great place to come buy your entire picnic lunch!

The macarons themselves too are very nice and are done the right way, which is always a great thing to see when a shop tries to do everything. It’s a great place to go, and the area it’s in is just fun to be in anyway, so this quick detour is an bonus!

Places you could definitely skip:

Dalloyau

This chain is all around Paris, and while I would step in here to get a slice of their famous Opéra cake, I would skip the macarons. The cookies are a bit too almond-y and the fillings did not cover up the nuttiness that took over each flavor.

Basically, go here for the Opéra, not the macarons.

Georges Larnicol

This famous chocolatier has his decorative display of macarons prominently placed in the center of the main store on Boulevard St Germain, but don’t be tempted by the beauty: the texture isn’t quite right and the fillings are a bit too sweet.

Overall, while I would stop in here to pick up the amazing chocolates, I would not recommend you go in just for the macarons.

Addresses:

Pierre Hermé

72 rue Bonaparte (6ème arrondissement)

Ladurée

75, avenue des Champs Elysées (8ème arrondissement)

864 Madison Avenue  New York, NY

Carrette

4 Place du Trocadéro (16ème arrondissement)

Gerard Mulot

76 Rue de Seine (6ème arrondissement)

Dalloyau

2 Place Edmond Rostand (6ème arrondissement)

Georges Larnicol

132 Boulevard Saint-Germain (6ème arrondissement)

More of the Best Coffee in Boston

I’ve had another few adventures since I last posted, so I thought I would share some of my newly updated results on where to have the best coffee in Boston! This is part of the day in Boston that my dad and I decided to take a foodie tour, searching for croissants, coffee, and pastries in and around Boston. Here’s the best coffee we had of the day: each time we had one cappuccino between the two of us, so don’t worry, we weren’t too over caffeinated!

Area Four

A couple of blocks away from MIT is the cool Area Four with its industrial, edgy style complete with a hipster-nerd-professional crowd, a delicious cafe serving coffee with probably the best microfoam we had all day, and a fantastic casual restaurant to boot.

My dad had been here before for the restaurant, but he had heard there was a cafe during the day, so we had to stop by and see what there was. The pastries looked delicious and the coffee was spectacular! We had to pick up a smores bar despite our lack of hunger, just because it looked (and tasted) so delicious. We had no problem finishing it.

Overall, it’s definitely worth the trip out to the 3rd street area just to come here. Delicious coffee, yummy pastries, and an awesome space.

Voltage Café

Another cool spot in Kendall Square, this cafe has been written up time and time again for its excellence in coffee. And when I went there, it did not fail to disappoint. And although the people working there could have been snooty about their coffee and looked down on someone like me who was asking questions, they were the exact opposite: incredibly helpful and welcoming, answering every question my dad or I had and making sure we made the best decision about what type of coffee to get.

The cappuccino we got was beautifully poured and crafted and the beans they use are wonderful I did not try one of their latte creations this time around, but maybe on a day where I was less caffeinated I would stay around in the cool space and have latte after latte of their delicious coffee.

Yum, yum, yum. Definitely make your way out here for amazing coffee!

Ula Café (With reservations)

While the coffee, in both presentation and in quality, may not be as good as some of the others that I’ve had in Boston, the place itself is a really nice spot to sit in. They have a lot of great food options: freshly made sandwiches, pastries, and, my favorite, popovers. They have a nice place to sit, with a groovy atmosphere and very low key. And they definitely had the best t-shirts/logo of the bunch (says my dad).

It’s very rare that you get a popover in a cafe, let alone a good popover. And Ula Café has a puffy, eggy, crunchy, soft popover that they keep bringing out over the course of the day. It was very yummy, and probably the highlight of the place for me.

All in all, it’s definitely worth the visit, even if not just for the coffee!

Places that were also on the list but I haven’t gotten a chance to go there yet:

Thinking Cup, Downtown Crossing
Andala Café, Central Square
Equal Exchange Cafee, North End
Simon’s Coffee House, Cambridge
1369 Coffeehouse, Cambridge
Render Coffee, South End

Addresses:

Area Four

500 Technology Square, Kendall Square

Voltage Café

295 3rd St, Kendall Square

Ula Café

284 Amory St, Jamaica Plain

Best Croissant in Boston

My dad and I (with the help of some recommendations from the Chowhound discussion) went on a day-long quest for the best croissant in Boston. After 9 months in France, I can DEFinitely tell when a croissant is good, great, or terrible, and when I get a craving for one, I want to know where to go to find the best.

We tried places in Jamaica Plain, Brookline, Cambridge, and Boston itself (although we didn’t make it to the North End), and here are my top places.

Canto 6

Past the main drag of Jamaica Plain, right when you reach the point of “wait, where are we?” is this haven of pastry: Canto 6.  You walk inside and are welcomed by the smell of baked goods made with real butter and greeted with the sights of mouth-watering goodies. This is where we decided to start our day of adventuring.

While all of the pastries in there looked completely delicious, we decided to pick up a salted chocolate chip cookie, a whoopie pie, and, of course, a pain au chocolat. We saved the dessert foods for later (which were both delicious) but ate the chocolate croissant immediately, and I had an immediate flashback to walking down the streets of Paris. The texture was right, the shape was right, and the chocolate was real chocolate. Although it was a little breadier than the finest of croissants from France, it was definitely a very close competition to the best croissant I’ve had in the US.

Not only were the croissants good and the rest of the pastries equally delicious, but also the people working there were SO NICE (not something you always find in a high end bakery)! The place was charming (albeit few places to sit) and it had a fun, hipster-y atmosphere that comes with the location of Jamaica Plain. I highly recommended finding your way out there, it is worth the trip!

Clear Flour Bread

Centrally located, just off of Coolidge Corner in Brookline, this bakery is known for its prowess in breads. The sour dough bread is actually tangy (a taste that is sorely missed by Californianites), the country bread is nice and hearty, and the baguettes look authentic (which is a sight for sore eyes). But the best part is the row of pastries that stands right behind the register, gorgeous, tantalizing, and just so correct.

The pain au chocolat here is lovely, and with three batons of chocolate in the chocolate croissant, it’s positively decadent. We also loved the cannelés as a fun treat. And while I haven’t tried the morning buns myself, I read that they are made with the croissant dough, so I’m positive they will be delicious 🙂

I highly recommend this place. A delicious stop, although you have to come in early because a lot of things sell out before noon on busy Saturdays!

Tatte Fine Cookies and Cakes

Both of these locations (one in Brookline and one in Cambridge) and sweet boutiques that are a pleasure to look at before they are a pleasure to eat in. Just to step into one is like stepping into a jewelbox filled with delicate pastries and dainty decorations.

The pastries they prepare are also delicious. We picked up a couple of “roses” and a croissant based tart with eggplant, red pepper, and goat cheese as well as a croissant. All were yummy and exquisite to look at.

In addition to pastries, they also sell Jeni’s homemade ice cream (at a fair price), which as a foodie is hard to find! I would definitely recommend this place, even to just come in and gawk at the beauty of the food. For a nice big seating location, the Cambridge location is a bit bigger.

All in all, a successful day for a croissant lover stuck in the North East!

Addresses:

Canto 6

3346 Washington St, Jamaica Plain

Clear Flour Bread

178 Thorndike St, Brookline

Tatte Fine Cookies and Cakes

1003 Beacon St, Brookline

318 3rd St, Cambridge

Best Coffee in Greater Boston

Having really developed an interest in coffee during my stay in France, I am still developing a taste for the traditional American filtered coffee. So naturally when I find places where I can get a cappuccino that tastes as good as any café crème I had in Paris, I want to tell the world!

While this list is only just beginning, I figured I would share where you can find a great cup of coffee outside of Boston. This list is a work-in-progress!

Three Little Figs (Somerville)

This adorable shop a bit outside of Davis Square in Somerville is exactly what I always look for in a cafe: a cute place to sit (inside or out), yummy food (they had both sandwiches and delicious pastries), fantastic coffee (they have a very impressive espresso machine displayed prominently), and a warm staff (we made friends with both the cashier and the barista in no time).

I definitely crave their cappuccino and their “lemon doughnut muffin”, which was a pastry that was too good to be put into one category (is it a doughnut? is it a muffin? is it a tart? is it a cupcake?). It’s just the type of place I lived closer to so I could go there all the time.

George Howell Coffee (Newtonville)

The man who runs this coffee shop is a coffee legend. George Howell has been a proponent of single-origin coffee since before Starbucks. Right now, he travels around giving talks and tasting coffee, but every once in a while you can catch him at his store. And I was fortunate enough to be able to have a long conversation with him while we has in the store!  He prefers light roast to dark roast, iced coffee to cold brew, and gave us many tips on how to best store the coffee (freezer once it’s opened).

He even brewed us up a new pot of iced coffee so we could compare it to the old one that had been out all day and so that we could compare it to our knowledge of cold brew. It was a very interesting experiment, and while I think I still prefer cold brew to iced coffee, it was definitely a fun experience. I think it’s cool that I know what I like in a coffee now and can begin to articulate what I prefer, when a year ago I couldn’t tell you the difference between a latte and a regular cup-a-joe. While I didn’t agree with some of George’s preferences of coffee, I loved hearing his reasons for his choices and where he thinks the coffee industry is heading. And the shop makes a good cappuccino to boot.

Crema Café (Cambridge)

Right in the heart of Harvard Square it’s hard to know if there will be anything except chain restaurants or low-quality food options to find, but this cafe has all the vibe of a place half its size while maintaining a large scale customer base. I passed by this place every morning on the way to my job (which just ended), and I was always secretly hoping I would miss the bus so I could snag a seat and sip a cup of their coffee or tea and munch on a treat.

All of the drinks I had from there were delicious, including a Moroccan mint iced tea, a “maté latte” (tea with milk, honey, and cinnamon), and of course a cappuccino. In addition to their fun and yummy drinks, they have pastries, salads, and sandwiches that never failed to disappoint: everything from chocolate chip cookies to smores cupcakes to quiche to croissants to mini carrot cakes to panini-ed sandwiches and fresh salads and wraps for the lunchtime rush. They knew how to maintain the balance between hidden-secret and big crowd pleaser, with the homey feel of a small cafe but all the bells and whistles of a place that keeps up with the crowds. It’s also owned by the same people who have Flat Patties (a cheaper sandwich place next door) and Felipes (for tacos and burritos), both in Harvard Square as well!

Diesel Café (Somerville)

A frequent hang out for Tufts students, this cafe in the heart of Davis Square is known for its great pastries, yummy food, and awesome coffee. Like Crema, it manages to maintain the small cafe feel while having a huge seating area and large scale production. The pastries are amazing, and the breakfast is utterly delicious.

It may not look appetizing in that picture, bu I swear that might be the best oatmeal I’ve ever eaten. The tiny, chewy oat pieces were topped with walnuts, dried cranberries, steamed milk, and a fresh hunk of brown sugar that slowly dissolved into the steaming bowl of goodness. It was positively delightful. While the people who work here are not as openly friendly as at 3 Little Figs, they are all very knowledgeable and produce really great quality products, including their coffee.

Again, this list is definitely a work-in-progress, but I wanted to share what I’ve been eating and drinking!

Not featured, but also delicious:

Peet’s Coffee (Cambridge)

Darwin’s Ltd. (Cambridge)

Addresses:
3 Little Figs

278 Highland Avenue  Somerville, MA

George Howell Coffee

311 Walnut Street  Newton, MA

Crema Cafe

27 Brattle Street  Cambridge, MA

Diesel Cafe

257 Elm Street  Somerville, MA