(downed: soy latte, soy latte, shot, regular latte)
DETROIT — After getting out of the hotel at 3:30a PDT, spending the day with a film crew and a car, getting back nearly 12 hours later, I was bushed. So I awoke from a well earned sleeping fit with a hankering for some coffee. Why not hit up two or three spots and compare, me think-ied.
Caribou Coffee is a chain of “Up North” themed shops, with real timbers all over the place. It’s basically a Starbucks with a niche marketing plan…and the coffee may or may not actually be better. Who knows. Maybe they’re trying to make it look like the Pacific NW? And that leads me to some thoughts…
Ever since heading up to Seattle/Oregon, I’ve been amazed at what good PR/buzz/marketing the region has, when it reality it virtually identical to Michigan. Northern Michigan has all the same stuff…trees, artsie gay people running from persecution and lakes galore. It just seems that the location of Seattle et al makes people just kind of love it. But everyone pretty much thinks little or nothing of MIchigan. And perhaps that because our coffee kind of sucks.
That also got me wondering, given our climate…a cup of coffee makes a hell of a lot of sense. It’s warm, it kills the “dark” periods temporarily and it lets you brood with like-minded neighbors who also are looking for winter/rain/clouds/economics to change. Did Michigan ever stand a chance of becoming a coffee-brewing mecca? Maybe if just a couple of snobs would have grown up here? If a publisher is interested, I’d be happy to report this story into book form.
So I matched up a bunch of coffee purveyors on the classic Soy Latte test…
Caribou Coffee — Many locations in Royal Oak/Woodward cooridor
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soy latte
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Service: The usual clerk and tattooed guy service. Got called “man” when I was given my drink. I like that kind of deal. Bunch of people around working silently on computers. Brooding!
Long Story Short: This was a solid drink. It hit me just right, warmed my weakling Angelino frame amid the cold Michigan evening and made me want another drink. This was a full point above the usual Starbies one, but I’ll take a slight deduction as I was in withdrawal, so maybe I’m just giving it too much credit. So I’ll give this a 3.75.
Bean and Leaf (DetNews local review) — Royal Oak on Main St.
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shot and soy latte
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Service: I was just about to head back to Caribou to test out the straight espresso, but saw this little shop and got excited. It’s an even more “off-brand” chain shop that seems to promote a fuller menu of roasts and Free Trade offerings and etc. Plus, they had a real machine called a FAEMA (read all about it here). The folks were helpful and more personable than the usual clerks. And the barista looked to be talented and engaged…my hopes were high. The place was pretty packed, too. Maybe this one had just slipped beneath my radar?
LSS: I got a shot for “here” and a soy latte “to go.” The shot came up pretty quick and the latte came up later. The shot was huge, but I know the guy passed along “single shot” to the barista. It was also very light. Upon tasting, it was extremely thin for a shot…almost like a double-brewed coffee. I was honestly let down. I read about the machines and thought for a minute this might be one of the automatic machines so it wasn’t the barista’s deal? But if it was automatic, why would it be set to brew up shots like this? I didn’t hang around long enough to investigate.
Considering the amount of caffeine I was ingesting at 9p local time, this was a calculated risk to even partake. And this wasn’t worth it. So I pitched it, opting to just go somewhere else and avoid the parking ticket I was also risking for the love of the game. The latte was similarly disappointing, getting it’s butt kicked by the Caribou one. Just not very well done, though I’ll be back to try again. I’d give this a 1.5 on the Starbies scale. This is like something you’d expect at an ice cream parlor that offers Illy on the side.
Cosi — Birmingham on Old Woodard @ Maple
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latte
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Service: I got a kick out of this place (used to be Xando in DC, but has branched out to a lot of places including at least 2 in Michigan, likely more) on this latest visit as the clerk girl suggested I looked like I was unemployed — but meant that as a compliment. Then talked about her photography habit and how she had a friend in Orange County, even though they weren’t all that well off (as she put it). It was a trip. They also didn’t have any soy after much investigation. So we went to milk.
LSS: I’ve just had too much for this late, but this was a good sip. I’d put it a step above the Caribou even, just a better coffee flavor coming through. There’s extensive marketing language on the cup about how careful Cosi is in picking out coffee roasts and whatnot. So maybe…I’ve never though much of their stuff, but I’d put this on a 4 on the Starbucks scale.
