Just a note:
The Best of New Orleans blog post Breakfast on Banks mentions that the new Huevos Coffee & Breakfast cafe in mid-city serves coffee from local roaster Try Me Mills.
Oh. . . They say the food is really good, too.
About the regions coffee houses
The Marigny neighborhod’s Orange Couch coffee shop likes young musicians to hang and play according to this New Orleans City Business blog post.
The Orange Couch Coffee shop is on the corner of Royal and Mandeville, just down river from the French Quqrter in the Marigny neghborhood. This is the newest espresso joint in a neighborhood that is becoming a hub of coffee in the city.
The decor at the Orange Couch is comfortable clean and simple. The thorough baristas serve up coffee and tea drinks and a few pastries. The espresso is good. They have wi-fi. I like to go there
Coffee By Design The Best of New Orleans
Marigny Coffee House Caters to Young Musicians New Orleans City Business
PS: If you click on a photo it will take you to our flickr coffee shop photostream. There are a couple of more pictures and all the coffee shop pictures are linked to a map to help you find them.
Blogger ‘Man Seeking Coffee‘ recently spent some time in the Crescent City. While he was here he sought. His report: “Nothing Easy About Finding Good Coffee in New Orleans.”
Man Seeking admits that family obligations kept him from a thorough search. He did spend enough time in La Boucherie to form an opinion but it doesn’t sound like he will be in any hurry to go back. He did find something to like at the French Quarter Royal Blend.
The little stretch of Bayou Road between Esplanade and Broad has always been interesting. There was old brick pavement, a little, run-down, business area, a couple of beautiful restored homes, a gourmet restaurant.
The gourmet restaurant looks closed now but he street has been in the news lately because the business section has been perked up with some paint and some new places that make it more interesting. One of these new places is Black Coffee.
(apology: seems like it would be hard to mess up pictures with the cameras and technology we have today but I did it. Most of my interior shots came out too blurry.)
The coffee shop is a small, clean, comfy space. More like a living room than a cafe. There’s a little “kitchenette,” a couch, armchairs, and a couple of tables. There is wi-fi and a fax machine is available. They pull their shots on a La San Marco. They have their own label for beans.
The barista was very nice and she pulled a tasty cappuccino for me.
My wife and I enjoyed our visit to Black Coffee. We will go back for another coffee and to get the rest of the pictures sometime.
The Caribbean restaurant across the street is getting a little buzz. We haven’t tried it but it’s on our list.
(The shop name is a little confusing: on their signage it’s blackcoffee.com but when they get a website the URL will be different. The shop name might be blackcoffee.com, or blackcoffee, but I’m not sure so I went with the most literal way to write it.)
Starbucks will be closing two Baton Rouge stores in the first round of closures but will not close any in our city. Today’s New Orleans Times-Picayune reports that all 28 stores in the metro area will stay open. (28 stores? Where are they all? In hotels? I guess the Magazine Street store that closed after Katrina was written off a long time ago.)
In the Marigny Triangle, just around the corner from the hip Frenchman Street club scene, you’ll find Kahve. Kahve is a low-key, friendly cafe with a real New Orleans feel.
Kahve is on the corner of Royal and Touro. They have a Victoria Arduino ‘Venus’ espresso machine that is quite the hammered-brass eye-catcher. There are a dozen or so tables in two rooms, in a miniscule courtyard, and on the sidewalk. No wi-fi, no a.c., a few pastries. You gotta want the coffee.
We stopped in before an early show at Snug Harbor. We were so close to the clubs and bustle but it felt like we were in a neighborhood spot.
They* say that kahve is what the Turks called it before it came to Europe.
*experts on the internet
The little PJ’s coffee shop on the Tulane University campus has won a few awards from the American Institute of Architects.
This nifty glass and steel, 900 square-foot building was retrofitted into the breezeway of Percival Hall. It is visible from Freret street as you drive through campus.
The coffee shop “transforms a heavy, oppressive void into a meaningful social space” and “the light materials make an elegant contrast to the imposing structure of the existing building.”(Times-Picayune)
PJs coffee shops are a New Orleans based, Starbucks-like, franchise chain. There are locations all around the South. PJs roasts their own beans and their cafes can be a pleasant place to catch your breath. Most have wi-fi. (see location listing).
The espresso comes out of super-autos that are usually staffed by cheerful button-pushers. The shops are ubiquitous and, if you are a visitor to the city, you will probably see a PJs before you see any other coffee place (except maybe SBUX).
Self appointed graffiti zealot Fred Radtke took aim at the tags on Magazine Street’s Mojo Coffee House. As reported in this article from “New Orleans City Business” a lot of accusations were swapped back and forth but neutral corners seems to be the best they could work out. Unless you are a part of the tagging culture you probably applaud his efforts but this not the first time Mr. Radtke has been embroiled in this type of controversy. Gentilly Girl argues the case against his crusade.
During the two long weekends of Jazz Fest there is probably more coffee run through these two stands than all of the shops in town put together.
You can see some of the other cuisine available to festers. It’s all about what makes Louisiana special.
One coffee stand is run by the famous Cafe DuMonde. The other by Cool Brew, a locally made coffee concentrate available in supermarkets.
