So a couple weeks ago I said that some friends and I were going to try out different coffee shops and let you know what we find.
I realize this is (pretty much) useless information for anyone who doesn’t live in the Chicago area…but maybe you’ll be passing through someday. (And if you do, please let me know so I can meet you for coffee!)
And if you are from the area, consider it your own personal guide on where to find the best java by someone who loves the stuff.
So I need to set some criteria, otherwise my coffee house reviews will have no rhyme or reason…although I do tend to have a random brain, so maybe I should just fly by the seat of my pants on these reviews.
We’ll see.
So a little background before I get going on my first “official” coffee house review.
Every other Friday afternoon Maelie and I go to coffee with our friends Alison and Kirsten.
It’s more just social time than anything, but I always come away from our time feeling encouraged in some way, so it’s definitely good for us. And Maelie really likes coffee dates, even if she’s too young to k now it right
now. Haha
A couple weeks ago, Kirsten mentioned something about me blogging about the different places we have coffee…and I figured, hmmm…that could be fun. So let’s give it a try! I mean, I live in (or close to) the suburbs of Chicago…we definitely aren’t going to run out of places to have coffee!
So here we go… (and I apologize for not having pictures with this one…next time I will take my camera!)
Today was Cafe Firefly in Algonquin, which is just about a ten minute drive from my house in Carpentersville.
Atmosphere: We fell in love with the atmosphere of the place immediately.
It’s small…but cozy, and we were lucky enough to grab the two big couches in the back.
Coffee: I’d give it a 9 out of 10…and I’m a coffee snob, so that says something. I had a Mexican Mocha (made with spicy chocolate), decaf (of course…I want my daughter to sleep!), skim. I left the whip on it because it’s Friday. I don’t usually let myself have it, though, because so much of the bad-for-you fat comes from the whip.
It was really, really good…I think I will have a hard time going back to Cafe Firefly and NOT ordering that drink.
Food: I don’t always order food when we go for our Friday coffee, but I hadn’t had lunch today, so I had the chicken salad, and my two friends had the tuna. I think if I order food there again, I would go with
the tuna. It was good… but the drinks were better.
(But that IS why it’s a coffee shop. :))
Prices: About average for a coffee shop. For a sandwich and coffee I paid around $10, which is not extremely cheap, but not on the outrageous side, either. Since I have a (pretty) strict coffee budget, I probably won’t be eating lunch very often when we go for our Friday coffee, but it was okay today.
Extras: The owner is really friendly. I love small coffee shops for that reason…it’s more like a f
amily atmosphere. They have a lot of board games if you like that kind
of thing. Tonight they also had Open Mic…which was really tempting–I’ m hoping they have it again.
Now I just need a friend to go with me…
Recommended: Definitely. I’ll go back for the Mexican Mocha if
for nothing else. And if they have another Open Mic night
? I’m totally there.
So for our first “official” Friday Coffee, Cafe Firefly was a good choice.
Give it a try if you’re ever in the area!
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