Starbucks Mugs: Taipei

Starbucks Mug: Muan Jai Thailand

At the Six Senses Spa and Resort, Koh Samui

Starbucks Mug: Taipei Christmas

.....this background has nuttin to do wit Xmas,  but that's how Taipei looks in Decembrrrrr!

Starbucks Mug Collection: Florida 'You Are Here'

Starbucks Mug Collection: Orlando 'You Are Here'

Starbucks Mug Collection: New York City 'You Are Here'

A Special Presentation Featuring Photographer Christopher G Moy

Stabucks Mug Collection: Hawaii

2013 Starbucks Las Vegas 'You Are Here' Mug

Starbucks Bearista Photo 7: NYC

This is for my hometown: New York City...

You can't see it, but Joe is giving you the finger....Sandy!!!

Paper or Plastik Cafe @ West Pico Blvd, Los Angeles

Down along Pico Street, You may be surprised to find a coffee shop housed in an industrial building, prominently taking corner real estate in an otherwise semi-desolate area.  And upon further inspection, you notice the unusual architecture, with modern awnings combined with the warehouse windows, it has a definite hipster hippie vibe with some found/object design incorporated into it...

It's always exciting to find a new coffee venue to explore, with as much coffee as we drink, we should be trying a new coffee shop everyday...wishful thinking and delusional on our part, but one can dream.....

Paper & Plastik is definitely a bohemian environment, it's got a loft like interior with industrial fixtures, and an organic mixture of furniture with a dance(?) studio attached in the rear-it's truly a melange of paradoxes; a coffeehouse with an identity crisis?



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Blue Bottle Coffee @ 30 Rock, NYC

As we're supposedly Coffee Aficionados, it was our mission to find some of the best Coffee that NYC had to offer....unfortunately, in my brilliance,

I booked our trip to The Big Apple during the hottest, steamiest time of the year, thus curtailing our adventures to twenty minute spurts of outdoor misery immediately followed by running into air-conditioned interiors, wet and melted like a soppy puddle on the floor.....

So while staying in Midtown, the closest java stop worth mentioning was Blue Bottle Coffee, located in the lower level of Rockefeller Center amongst the other food court like venues.  It's off the beaten path, which gives it's exclusive vibe, but a little different than the other BBC's we've encountered....

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Revolver @ Cambie Street, Vancouver

  

Given our hopeless addiction to coffee and coffee paraphernalia, we were on an exploration in Vancouver to find some good Java! (there's really only so much Starbucks I can handle...I never used to be like when I live in NYC...)

I was given a magazine in a tea shop one day and as I was reading, it had a great article about Revolver-a super evolved coffee bar that specializes in the art of drip coffee.  And given the naissance of individual coffee brewing that has finally reached our shores in the U.S., we couldn't ignore the opportunity to enjoy what Canada has to offer us!

To begin, We were in love with this shop!  Located on the corner of brick building in Gastown, this store had an awesome feel and ambience that exuded the rich aroma of ground coffee, with images of sipping a cup on a cloudy day starring outside through the large panes of glass watching people walk by, contemplating their next moves...

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Zona Rosa Caffe @ S. El Molino Ave, Pasadena

It's awesome that this independent Cafe is alive and thriving amidst the proliferation of global chain-seeking-world-domination evil empires, (I'm talking to you, Big Green Mermaid)!  Zona Rosa Caffe is a great little shop that serves coffees from around the Latin America region; with it's proximity to the Pasadena Playhouse District, and promotes Latin culture with music and art by hosting live bands and exhibiting colorful art inside the two story structure.

Our first encounter with Zona Rosa was actually by accident; we had just finished watching a movie at the Laemmle Playhouse on Colorado Ave and when we exited the theater, the LudoTruck was hanging outside the Caffe with a throng of people and live music playing in the alley.  Fortuitously, we hadn't eaten and can I say, Ludotruck has the BEST CHICKEN WINGS on this PLANET!! (Honey glazed garlic wings....)  Since then, we have wanted to stop by and have coffee here.

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INTELLIGENTSIA COFFEE East Colorado Blvd, Pasadena

Exterior Facade

Staying in Pasadena has it perks, mostly because of the ability to bebop in and out of Downtown LA, we love driving along the streets adorned with beautiful homes and cherry blossom trees and strolling along Colorado Blvd in Old Town Pasadena for some food and shopping. There's a real sense of the locale here; a little quaintness, a little hip, a little college-town and touch of suburb all rolled into a neat historic community within the LA sprawl.   And deep within this microcosm of sun-drenched lollygaggers and tragically hip housewives, we knew of a small urban chain where we were certain to get a, "most excellent" brew.............of coffee. So we boot, scoot and boogied our way to caffeine Mecca!

We had been to other outposts of Intelligentsia Coffee, (Abbot Kinney in Venice, Sunset in Hollywood) and so coming here we had an inkling of its product, popularity and target demographic. And out of all of the Intelligentsia shops, this outpost has been the most subdued and tranquil.