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Monday, October 23, 2000
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For comments, contact Clay McCuistion at 864-4924 or e-mail features@kansan.com
By Clay McCuistlon features@kansan.com Kansan features editor
Six cups of cappuccino. Three hours.
That was the task I set for myself Tuesday evening on a whirlwind tour of late-night coffee shops in downtown Lawrence. I spent time in a couple of them, but perhaps I was missing the very best atmosphere, the very best group of people or the very best cup of coffee.
In one evening, I decided to sample all the Java emporiums in the Massachusetts Street area. I would have the same drink - a small capuccino - at each.
This is the account of my evening's travels. The different shops are not rated in any numerical, or particularly logical, system. Instead, I've assigned each emporium a descriptive adjective that describes the essence of my experience there. Additional information is attached, depending entirely on my whim.
Bourgeois Pig 6 East 9th St.
I began here at 7:45 p.m. with high expectations. I'd heard the name of this combination coffee shop and bar bandied about and was looking forward to experiencing the ambience.
The coffee looked great, and was in a stylish little black mug. But there were grounds in the brew, which gave it a distressing texture.
The inside of the shop was small, but the bar area was attractive, and the bartender/barista sported a pompadour, beard AND sideburns. The cappuccino was the most expensive of the nights' -$2.75 for a small cup. Kudos to the music selection though, which included Neil Young, the Beatles and Bruce Springsteen.
"You won't get better than this," the server told me after passing me the cup.
I certainly hoped I would.
Descriptive adjective: Gritty
Strange old man count: One
Preparation time: One minute and 15 seconds
Java Dive
10 East 9th St.
Taking a cue from Perkins, this shop was brightly lit, cleanly furnished and stuffed with prepubescent looking undergrads.
That's also why it was disturbing
Coffee shops, at least in this reporter's mind, aren't meant to have bright paintings on the walls and studying taking place. Cigarette
quiet, rilet yet study big taking place. Sugar eat smoke is supposed to billow across the room, choking anyone who dares to inhale deeply. The tasteful, smoke-free Java Dive just seemed way too normal.
While waiting for my cup of cappuccino (the longest wait of any shop I visited in the evening), I ran across Kansan sports columnist Chris Wristen, who was there for some coffee and study. The Dive is Wristen's shop of choice, for the same reasons it unsettled me. For some reason, he likes a quiet, positive atmosphere in which to do his homework.
The coffee itself was pleasant and foamy — an entirely competent cup. And I can't dislike any store that tapes up a Hilltopics page (last week's photo essay about coffee shops, to be precise).
Wristen wished me luck, and I moved on.
Descriptive adjective: Perky
Strange old man count: Zero
Regular old man count: One
Number of visible piercings on server: Four
Preparation time: Three minutes and 30 seconds
Henry's
11 East 8th St.
My coffee shop of choice. That probably disqualifies me from providing a truly objective review, but Henry's offered a nice combination of style and substance.
Chatters can chat, students can study and the strange old men can regale each other with strange, half-remembered anecdotes. Exemplary
baristas brew their concoctions with the concentration of fine artists, and European-style furnishings litter the shop's cozy interior. Plus, lots of people I know go there.
The coffee was the smoothest I'd had to that point, a pleasant blending of the espresso and milk necessary for a good cappuccino, topped with the thickest layer of foam yet. Unfortunately, I was beginning to overload on caffine by that point and spent most of my time in the store writing notes about the brands of cigarettes customers were smoking.
I spent a good deal of time speaking with Stan Handshy, Erie sophomore (who happened to be smoking Marlboro lights). He was drinking straight black coffee from a mug the size of a backyard swimming pool.
Descriptive adjective: Eclectic
Strange old man count: One
Preparation time: One minute and 45 seconds
8th St. and New Hampshire
I nodded. It was time to go.
"I don't like to bastardize my coffee," he told me.
Café Nova
The new kid in town, this cybercafé contained few people when I dropped by at about 9:30. The inside of the cafe was nice, however, and my cappuccino there was served in the only transparent glass mug I saw during the night.
looked around.
The drink tasted oddly nutty, but not unpleasantly so. I took a sip and
The cafe contained six Internet-ready computers,free for customers' use. Generic alternative rock music played at a low volume. Lamps on the tables were iMac-translucent. The place only lacked regular customers' — an obvious crowd to define it. This unassuming business had much potential.
Or so it seemed to me.
In the interests of full disclosure, however, I must admit my jitters were pretty bad by this point. The three previous cups of coffee weren't making me perky, but instead nervous and paranoid. Being only two-thirds done with the journey, I considered calling it quits. In the interests of science and a complete article, however, I steeled my nerves and continued.
Descriptive adjective: Translucent Preparation time: Two minutes and five seconds
Java Break
17 East 7th St.
This is the coffee shop you should go to if you want to feel cool. Of all the shops I visited, the Break — more than any other — reeked of alterna-hipness. There was an odd assortment of rickety furniture, old concert posters on the walls and cases full of mismatched paperbacks.
My coffee was produced more quickly here than anywhere else — probably because the shot of espresso already had been made. It was hot, foamy and beginning to be indistinguishable from every other cup of coffee I'd had.
Multiple rooms were the Break's main drawback. A visitor couldn't instantly see who was there — one had to walk around the three different rooms and endure the cold stares of those who wanted to be left alone. The shop also attracts a younger crowd — thanks both to the coolness factor I mentioned and being open 24 hours a day.
Descriptive adjective: Groovy
Number of strange looks from customers as I
peered owlishly in various
rooms: 20 (estimated)
Preparation time: 30 seconds
hyperness.
La Prima Tazza 638 Massachusetts St.
A pleasant end to a night full of caffeinated
I was rattled by the time I entered the store. It was 10:30, and five cups of charged cappuccino were blazing their way through my system. The experiment, such as it was, needed to end. Right there.
Thankfully, La Prima Tazza was the last open shop I could find in the downtown area. Any more might have driven me irrevocably bonkers. As it was, the brightly lit and spotlessly clean store soothed my frayed nerves.
I ordered my sixth and final cup. I sampled it and nodded agreeably as instrumental jazz played over the store's speakers. Any powers of comparison I may have had were weakened by the coffee-flavored fuzz coating the inside of my mouth.
Three other customers — working on math homework— were in the store. I sipped on my cappuccino and smiled. I had survived the night. I had survived the coffee. I had survived crowds of angst-ridden twenty-somethings.
But most importantly, I'd seen a cross-section of late-night coffee culture in Lawrence.
Had I learned anything?
Absolutely. Drinking six cups of cappuccino is insane.
Descriptive adjective: Pristine
Preparation time: One minute and 30 seconds
La Prima Tazza, 63B Massachusetts, celebrates its 10th anniversary this year. La Prima Tazza serves coffee until 11 p.m. most nights. Photo by Jamie Roper/KANSAN
David Shildt, Phoenix freshman, spends part of his Saturday night studying calculus at the Java Break, 17 E. 7th street. The Java Break is open 24 hours a day. Photo by Jamie Roper/KANSAN