(If you are reading this from Facebook, click view original post)This weekend I had the very noble goal of getting lots of school work done. And I really did accomplish quite a bit… not as much as I wanted to… but sometimes that’s the way it goes. Anyways, there is nothing that motivates me to do school work more, than the idea of doing school work in a coffee shop somewhere. So, Elizabeth and I packed up our school stuff and walked 50 minutes to the nearest Juan Valdez Cafe. (We didn’t think it was quite that long of a walk- good thing it was a nice, cool, overcast 84 degree day.)
Let me just say- I love coffee shops. I can spend hours at a time in them. Literally. Although I had been to Juan Valdez a couple times before, this was the first time I went with the intention of staying for an extended amount of time. One of the best things about Juan Valdez is the sense of familiarity. When you walk in, you feel like you’re walking into, well, Starbucks. Juan Valdez has the same basic set up as Starbucks and they even have their own line of merchandise. One thing I noticed is that they have these mugs and shirts with different locations of Juan Valdez Cafes, and they include Seattle! The funny thing is, when I looked at their website, they don’t show a café in Seattle! I don’t know, maybe they just wish they were in Seattle.
Today I enjoyed a cup of tinto cardamomo. Tinto is black coffee (with lots of sugar!) and cardamomo is cardamom! Mmm… it’s like Christmas in a glass! At least for me it is, since my family makes a Finnish coffee/cardamom bread every December. The other drink I really like at Juan Valdez is an arequipe latte. Arequipe is the Colombian version of carmel, it’s really similar to cajeta in Mexico. So far that’s all I’ve tried, but they are so good I may just keep ordering them. However, there is also a whole section on the menu called cafes extremos that are coffee drinks with brandy and whiskey!
All in all I give Juan Valdez two thumbs up. It is really good coffee and a great place to hang out. Not only that, but it is not so much a business, as it is a non-profit organization that supports independent coffee growers. Check out their commitment to social responsibility.
All in all I give Juan Valdez two thumbs up. It is really good coffee and a great place to hang out. Not only that, but it is not so much a business, as it is a non-profit organization that supports independent coffee growers. Check out their commitment to social responsibility.
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