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The drive thru

To Bean or Not to Bean?

The Human Bean opened its first store in Ashland, Oregon, in 1998. Early success and positive customer reception encouraged us to open additional locations throughout Southern Oregon during the next five years. We now own and operate twelve corporate stores with plans for modest corporate store growth in the Pacific Northwest. The most significant growth of the brand has occurred through franchising.

The Human Bean is the one drive thru I’ve really wanted to do a review about. I’ve heard great things about their coffee and their franchise, and thought it was time to give them a try and write an analysis about my experience.

As I pulled up to the coffee shop I gave the stand a look over. Visually appealing, clever logo, even cleverer name. Their menu didn’t shout anything too spectacular, but it covered the basics and added a couple specialty drinks- not uncommon. Giving it a quick scan, I decided on a 16oz double shot mocha. Beginning to pull forward I glanced at the ordering window. Laden with stickers of brands, it showed that they are proud of their sponsors and product producers. The barista stepped forward, opened the window, and asked me what I wanted.

That’s when it started going downhill.

In my experience, more then half of the coffee experience is the environment. I could get the best brew on earth, but if the staff serving it is rude and impolite, the coffee is probably going to taste weak and dusty.
Drive thru coffee shops are unique in that they have only minutes to set the atmosphere, make the coffee, and give the customer a good experience. Typically drive thru coffee shops, whether they be locally owned or a corporately managed, will only employ baristas who are full of energy and exploding with happiness. Hopefully this barista will influence the customer in such a way that will turn them into a returning customer, then a regular.

The drive thruI noticed several things shortly after ordering my drink. First, the barista (a college-aged female) didn’t look very excited. Granted, it’s a Sunday, it’s cold outside, and the booth looked pretty crammed. I probably wouldn’t want to be in her place. That being said, she was already putting a bad taste in my mouth (pun intended).
To make things worse, she didn’t talk to me while making my drink. Again, giving her the benefit of the doubt, she may have been focusing on making a good coffee. After a couple moments of awkward silence, I attempted to strike up some small talk.
“So, what kind of coffee do you guys use?”
“Coffee…like, regular coffee or espresso?” she said.
“Espresso.” I replied
“Farm Friendly Direct.” is what I think she said. It was a little hard to hear her above the whir of the steaming milk.
“Oh, ok. Cool.” I replied.

After a couple more moments of silence:
“So, what kind of roast is that?” I asked.
She paused,
“Is it like a medium roast?” I asked, prompting her.
“Yeah, I think it’s a medium roast.” She replied, after some hesitation.

At that point it became clear that the barista really wasn’t sure what kind of coffee she was serving me.


Now, please don’t misread what I’m trying to say. This one barista may not be the standard that The Human Bean normally employs. In fact, she may have simply been having an off day.
The fact of the matter is that I really wasn’t impressed with the service.

So, those are the cons. What are the pros?

My coffee was made quickly, and served with a chocolate covered coffee bean. If nothing else, I left with a sweet present to snack on. I didn’t get a chance to try the coffee until I got home, but here’s my review:

Not entirely strong. It wouldn’t surprise me at all if The Human Bean does use a medium espresso blend. In fact, here’s what their website says:

Our signature blend combines Indonesian, Central American, and African beans to create espresso that is smooth with a hint of berries and a bright finish.  It’s great for mocha’s and flavored lattes.

Well, it really was pretty good in a mocha. I’m not a huge fan of weak coffee, but I did enjoy this particular drink. The mocha was well made: smooth beginning, hints of the espresso with a strong chocolate note to accompany. Both notes rang clear through the end of the sip, and as they hit my palette the orchestra erupted into the climax of the song. The finish was smooth, like the beginning, with the classic mocha aftertaste: bittersweet, with thick saliva containing leftovers as if to remind me of what I’m drinking. Truthfully, I did enjoy my mocha.

Will I visit The Human Bean again? Probably, if only to give it a second chance.
I wasn’t impressed with the service, and the coffee was ok, but in all honesty I think the real problem of The Human Bean for me boils down to one thing: it’s a franchise. Their website says that their real growth started when they franchised. Fiscally, I understand this. But relationally? My first impression was negative. The barista didn’t talk to me, and what questions I did ask were responded to with hesitation and slight ignorance. To me, this equation has a couple variables that are off. My call is that somewhere in the franchising of the “local” Human Bean, something vital was lost. The customer care. Now, while it’s true that franchises can get their mojo back, I always am sad to see such great potential lost at the hands of untrained baristas, automatic espresso machines, and fancy logos.

My hope is that next time I visit The Human Bean, they’ll prove me wrong.

What’s been your experience with coffee franchises? Do you like The Human Bean? Comment and let me know!

The Coffee Guy

“Since 1927: Caffe Reggio”

This is a continuation from my trip to the East Coast. Check here and here for more.

Past all the bars, avoiding the busy New York traffic; all of a sudden there it was.
A friend had led me and my dad to this spot saying that it was a great meeting place. Seeing so many bars on the route didn’t set well with me, but as soon as I saw this place I knew he was right.

Caffe Reggio boasts being around since the ’20’s. Not a bad thing to boast considering most “old” coffee places you’ll find were started in the mid ’70’s. Their awning sign, however, boasted that they serve the “Original Cappuccino.” We’ll have to see about that.

Walking inside, a rustic sight met my eyes. The small building had room for about 20 comfortable people, but was cramming about double that into the sardine-like seating. The awesome thing was that nearly every seat was taken! I noted this before grabbing a seat myself. Unlike the hip, Mac-loving crowd I had seen at Think Coffee, Caffe Reggio was filled with older men and women. The type of people that were there to enjoy a night stroll and a good book. Many had friends with them and were chatting so that the room was filled with a dull roar.
Looking at the menu, a beautiful list of espresso drinks smiled back at me:

That’s right folks, this place is legit. No “kahuna kapow mochas” or “double chocolate artery clogger breves” to be found here. Only straight up, Italian style espresso.
And yet, as promising as the menu looked, I still had to do a review. So, I ordered a hazelnut cappuccino from the barista and sat back to fully admire my surroundings.

The building truly was old- probably hadn’t changed much since the ’20’s. The wallpaper was scratched and faded in most areas. Paintings lined the walls all with Italian feels to them. The chairs were wooden, and the lights had a reddish tint to them. If I ever lived in New York, this would be the place I would come to kick back and do some intellectual thinking or have a stimulating conversation. It had an atmosphere of old brilliance.

My coffee came, and the first thing I noticed was the thick layer of milk foam on the top. And I mean THICK. This baby was fluffy like a cloud, and took up about the top 1/3 of the drink. That’s what I call a cappuccino. After doing some dry slurping, I finally reached the coffee. I expected some kind of raw taste with a hint of hazelnut, but that’s not at all what I actually got. My drink was sweet. Like, really sweet. Like, Dutch Bros. sweet. I was rather surprised, and it took me a second to actually process what I was drinking. After a few more drinks, the initial shock wore off and I was able to judge the coffee. It was smooth and crisp with a note of fruitiness about it. Almost definitely Arabica beans. Asking the barista slipped my mind as I got lost in the conversation with those I was with. Here’s what I do recall from the experience however:

The coffee reminded me of a cherry tree: a rough middle with plenty of sweetness to go around. The coffee wasn’t slap-in-the-face hard stuff, but it had a definite kick to it. I was getting jittery sitting down after about half of my drink. The foam provided a nice solid base to go back to, and I was glad I had gone with the cappuccino because of this. Regardless of the quality of their coffee, whoever had made this drink definitely knew how to handle milk. The espresso really wasn’t anything to write home about, but the style of the drink did make it all worth it.

For any New Yorker’s out there, or for those who are planning on traveling there in the future:
Visit Caffe Reggio. This place is dripping with history. You won’t regret meeting the baristas and taking a look around. If you’ve got friends and something to chat about, this is definitely the place to go.

So, great coffee? Nah. Great cappuccino? Yes. Great conversation? Definitely.

The Coffee Guy

Red Letter Books & Cafe

I don’t know about you, but for some reason I have a thing for coffee shop/book store combos. I EVEN will go to a Barnes & Noble despite the Starbucks because of the atmosphere it offers. Don’t get me wrong, I love Dawson’s and Rembrandt’s as they are, but there’s something to be said about an environment rich with literature, while the air is rich with coffee.

Red Letter Books and Cafe is located by the mall on Franklin and Milwaukee. It uses a medium Full Circle fair trade coffee, which they purchase from Rembrandt’s in Eagle (Review here).

To be honest, I’ve heard a lot about Red Letter Cafe, and even drive by it quite a bit, but have never actually walked in a bought a drink. This was a first for me.
Walking in, the first thing I saw was an employee on the phone – not unusual for a book store. What was unusual was his response as soon as I put my foot on the other side of the doorway. Setting the phone on his shoulder, he turned to me and said
“Hey! Welcome!”

My first impression of this coffee shop I’ve never been to was one of feeling not only welcome, but glad I had chosen to come here today. If nothing else, this set Red Letter Books and Cafe apart in my mind right away.

Red Letter’s coffee is delicious. I got a mocha (becoming my standard grading drink) and looked around. The store is set up like a donut – books in the middle, coffee and tables on the outside. My barista was a nice girl with a bright attitude. Again, great on the customer service. After receiving my drink, I grabbed a seat at one of the tables, flipped open my laptop, and checked for internet. Free WiFi, awesome! At this point, I took my first sip of the coffee.

I opened up Firefox on my computer, and signed on to Facebook…then realized I hadn’t actually noticed the coffee. My first thought was that this wasn’t a good thing. After all, shouldn’t good coffee really stick out? Maybe. Dwelling on this thought, it hit me: not noticing anything about a sip of coffee is probably more of a plus then a minus. As a coffee snob, that which will immediately stick out to me in a cup of joe is stuff like off texture, burnt shots, rotten milk, and temperature; in summary: bad stuff. Because nothing stuck out in this sip of my mocha, I can honestly say I found nothing wrong with my coffee. It was…really good! Taking another sip, I could taste the resemblance to Rembrandt’s coffee.

The texture was smooth and clean- no disturbances to distract. It hit my palette and the medium-roast shots revealed themselves as being full in body and well pulled (kudos to my barista). As the brew rolled to the back of my mouth, the chocolate milk made its appearance and the sweet tinge made me glad I had chosen this particular drink. I’m not sure if Red Letter uses chocolate syrup with white milk or pre-mixed chocolate milk, but either way it was well steamed. The temperature was just perfect. The coffee finished similar to how it started: clean. The chocolate left an aftertaste that, upon finishing the drink, made me want to go order another.

The thing that sticks out to me most about Red Letter Books and Cafe is the customer service. The employees are genuinely nice. This alone made my entire experience with Red Letter worth it to me. I will indeed return here.

Come to Red Letter if you have a literary work to crank out, or a person to meet. It’s a perfect place to inspire conversation and stimulate the author in all of us. Also, don’t forget to get a coffee – you won’t be disappointed!

The Coffee Guy