Tuyen's Blog

Posts for Tag: peet's

A good cup of coffee

I'm sitting at my usual coffee spot, Peet's on 12th and Broadway. I'm always asked why I go 9+ blocks from the office to get my coffee when there are a few cafes close by. The short answer, it's not easy to get a well made cup of coffee. The "artisanal" coffee roasters over at Blue Bottle apparently can roast a mean bean, but their baristas can't make a good cup of coffee. Always luke warm, always tepid. I've given them maybe 3-4 tries at different times to make sure it wasn't one particular barista. Still no luck. World Ground makes a decent cup of coffee but only if a particular person is there. Urban Blend is ok but only on a nice day. It has this open air configuration that's not too comfortable on colder, windier days.

This particular Peet's seems to hit my sweet spot. There's ample seating inside and outside, plus there's a decent mix of folks here. And no matter who's working, the coffee seems to have a certain consistency of quality. There's something to be said about the quality controls that come with being a multi-million dollar corporation. The ladies at the table next to me are lamenting the "corporate" feel of the place but don't seem to have a problem sitting here for 30 minutes drinking their blended lattes and shooting the shit. I personally have no issue with corporations if they maintain quality. Starbucks used to be good but the day they started rolling out the "press a button" coffee machines, I stopped being a regular customer. I have no problem with the automation, it's just the coffee doesn't taste as good as before. You just can't beat a well made hand pulled cappuccino or latte.

I'm so disconnected from regular people

Or I should say disconnected from regular office type folks...

I'm sitting at Peet's, doing the usual afternoon coffee thing. I'm wedged at a table between two other tables filled with what seems like regular office folks (some have Clorox badges). Maybe I've been out of the regular work force for a while now (over 7 years and counting) but I can't believe the conversations these people are having. One table is discussing little diversion activities for their next strategy meeting - from human tetris to dressing up like super heroes for a skit to doing an air band performance. The other table is two ladies complaining about proper and improper ways their direct reports bring up overtime pay. WTF? Mind you, I'm not capping on any of these folks. If I think hard enough, I can remember a time when I was having the same conversations. It just goes to prove how unemployable I've become. Not that I'm complaining...

The good and the bad with shared office space

I've mentioned before that Centrro uses shared office space. It's great because it's month to month, relatively cheap, and allows us to make use of conference rooms, a reception desk, a kitchen, and free internet access. Well today, you can scratch one of those off the list. Internet access has been down all morning so I packed up and headed to Peet's. It's actually a great day outside so I don't mind.
 
The one other benefit of shared office space is that you get to meet some really interesting people outside your company. For instance, one of our cube mates is a lawyer for the adult entertainment industry. How cool is that? For that reason, I think places like JellyDesk are great. If we didn't have partner/board meetings, I'd be fine working in that environment.