Visited: December 4th, 2008

Hi, happy New Year. I’m tired of making excuses for my late posts, so today, I’m just not. I’ll just pretend it never happened and that everything is perfectly normal and that I am right on time. Better late than never.

So this place just opened recently. It’s on Highway 6. I hate Highway 6. I like to call it Highway 666 because it’s literally a nightmare. The traffic is atrocious no matter what time of the day I go. I passed by before about a month ago and it wasn’t open yet. Now it is! Another new shop in Fort Bend. So as they go (R.I.P., Coffee Groundz Sugar Land, Cuvee Coffee Works) new one’s (Minuti, Berri Blends) pop up. It’s not so far from where I live. It’s actually really close…

On the outside of the building it is connected to an Arby’s. It had the typical patio seating outside. When I walked into the place and the first thing I noticed is the very cool scenery. It looks very upscale and modern inside. In my review of another shop called Javioca, I stated that they (Javioca) had my favorite scenery and that if I found a better one I would update. Well, I found it. I love the disco ball-like decorations hanging at the front above the register. The color, the theme, everything about Minuti.

The employees here were very welcoming. The Barista that took my order seemed to genuinely like his job. He was very…perky should I say. Perky people and I get along very well, unless you are overly perky (see…Maui Wowi Katy) then…no. So there small size is called regulariti. Pretty cute. I don’t know much about Italy or Italian words, but Minuti has a really cute theme. It must be nice for your coffee shop logo to be a country’s national flag.

The bar was equipped with Rancilio Silva’s, Monin syrups, and some brand of Italian Espresso beans (can’t remember what it was called). After receiving my drink, I sat in a comfortable long booth connected to a wall. They had egg chairs and high tables spread out. The speakers played Christmas music. I wonder what kind of music they play now that the holiday’s are over. It’d be awesome to hear some Italo-disco/house, or maybe Italian Electro house like Benni Benassi and Frederico Franchi. But I doubt it. But I can dream can’t I? All of the walls were a dark red color. The black floor had an interesting texture. The entire place smelled like Stryrofoam. Probably because it’s brand spanking new! They had a large wall shelf with various mugs, cups, bags, and coffee beans for sale. I think I will be purchasing a bag of one of their espresso roasts as you’ll later see why. Maybe they import these beans directly from Italy because the packages were all labled in Italian.

Everything was going great at that point. All I needed was to sit down and give my drink the taste test. Well, I tasted it alright. My white mocha was…amazing. No flaws whatsoever. Perfect temp, perfect flavor, it was like everything I love about the white mocha in one cup. No complaints. I honestly sat there trying to find at least one thing they could have improved on and honestly, I couldn’t find anything. I’m surprised since I walked in a not so great mood. I left out of there feeling like it was a brands new day.

How often does a perfect 5-5-5 happen on this site? This is the first. Will Minuti Coffee continue to be this great?  I’ve already been there three separate times this month. Yes, I admit it. I’m cheating. My first visit was on December 4th, and I don’t remember the other two dates, but they were sometime shortly after in mid-December. How often do you hear me say “I’ll be back to visit this shop.” on all of my positive coffeehouse reviews? Answer: Very often. The thing is though, that I rarely actually go back. Not because I don’t want to, but because I’d rather explore a new place instead. However, Minuti Coffee is officially my favorite coffee shop in the entire world. I absolutely love it. Each time I have been there, the service, and the drink has been consistent. All the employees are really nice. It’s just my favorite.  You should go there. Today. And buy yourself a Minuti mug just for the hell of it. I know I would. Rep’ my shop. Perfect 5-5-5. So go, now, and go quickly. Right after you read this. Right now.

Employee Friendliness: 5 Cups

Scenery: 5 Cups

White Mocha: 5 Cups

Overall: 5 Cups

Address:

1535 Hwy 6

Sugar Land, Texas 77478

Website: http://www.minuticoffee.com/

Drive-Thru: No

Franchise: No

Notes: My favorite shop ever, free wi-fi, delicious white mocha, great service and that’s about all the extra notes I can think of.

So I don’t own a business….yet, but I’m bored today. When I’m bored, I think about the craziest things. One of the things I thought about today is if I were to open my own coffee shop one day. Being that I’m 19 with no business experience, I don’t think it’s going to happen soon. Maybe one day in the future though. I came up with two fantasy coffee shops. One is a little realistic and the second is obviously for fun and would never work. Assuming that I had more than enough money in my bank account to make it happen, these are my fantasy coffee shops as follows.

Fantasy Coffee Shop V.1:

Name: “Blitz Coffeehouse”

The Target: I would definitely market the teen/young adult/under 21 crowd with my shop.

The Marketing: Street team promotion  (just like a real night club), web social networking (myspace, facebook, twitter, etc.), I would also have themed nights where you could get discounts on drinks when dressed to that occasion.

The Menu: I would serve Tapioca drinks, blended coffees, and of course the basic espresso favorites. I would also come up with many crazy mixed drink recipes made with energy drinks (like Red Bull, Bawls, Monster, etc.) in place of serving alcohol.

The Store: I suck at interior design, but oh well. I would go with a hip lounge look inside. It would look like a nightclub. Except…a nightclub for the under 21 crowd. It wouldn’t be a study hut. More like a party hut! In one corner of the store I would have a DJ booth with turntables and have guest Dj’s spin late night hours every Friday and Saturday. I do a little Djing myself, so Miss Manager would spin every now and then hehe. I would also have an oxygen bar with bar stools to sit on the front counter. Just for fun you know. There would be no drive-thru of course. For the earlier hours of the day, I would have a few laptops set up in a little station, and maybe and x-box set up to a flat screen TV.  In order to play, customers would have to sign up at the counter to kind of “rent out” the game to prevent theft. I would have their student ID or car keys or something, and when they’re finished they just bring it back to the counter.

Would it work?: Probably not.  Realistically, the target is kind of narrow. Not only because of the targeted age range, but also due to the fact that it targeted towards somewhat of an “alternative” crowd. In other words, it wouldn’t be targeting the mainstream teen/young adult crowd. Most teens would rather go to the movies or hang out at the mall rather than jam out to booming techno music while sipping a latte in a coffee shop. When I was in high school, I would have preferred the second choice. Me and like 3% of the student population. Plus teens have bedtimes! Or at least curfews. The location would almost have to be perfect. Wouldn’t work just anywhere. I haven’t come across anything like this before. Cafe Europe kind of pulls it off. They don’t target young adults, but I mean the way they pull off the “coffee in the morning, beer at night” thing. Sure it’s a cafe, but it still has that nightlife vibe to it (and the crowd to go with it) at later hours. Other than that, I can’t think of any other anything else. So no. I’ve concluded that it can’t work. But lord knows, you can try!

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Fantasy Coffee Shop V.2

Name: “Wocha’s” (Get it? White Mocha Combined?)

The Target: Everyone, especially the White Mocha addicts like me.

The Marketing: The Starbucks strategy. Build like crazy and dominate all!

The Menu: White Mochas, and white mochas only. Nothing else. I would mix other flavors with White Chocolate, but only if it includes white chocolate! *Evil Grin*. If you ask me for a cup of water, you’ll get one….with white chocolate syrup in the cup. Iced White Mochas, Hot White Mochas, Blended White Mochas, you name it, Wocha’s will have it. I would have different white mochas to choose from. Your conventional white mocha, made with white chocolate syrup. But I’d throw in other drinks, like White Mochas made from real melted Hershey’s White Chocolate Cookies n Creme bars and just random things like that.

The Store: It’d look like your average family coffee shop. I’d have a drive-thru for this one.

Would it Work?: Uh, no.

Now that I think about it,  a “Wocha” sounds pretty catchy. It’s actually shorter than just saying White Mocha. If I really did have a coffee shop, I’d call the White Mocha a “Wocha” on the menu. I might even start calling it that on this blog! Oh God, what have I started!?

(lol, I just typed in  www.wocha.com and it took me to a Chinese search site. Hmm… does “Wocha” mean “Google” in Chinese? )

Me so crazy…

Visited: November 3rd, 2008

Ah…so I slacked off a little. I haven’t been online in ages due to working two jobs (I always make excuses…hehe). Seriously though, I feel like I’m already drained and it hasn’t even been that long. You try working two jobs and see if you have time to do this! Well anyways, I’m reviewing a new shop called BerriBlends! I’m reporting 2 weeks late, but it’s better late than never.

I drove to BerriBlends in Richmond on November 3rd pretty late in the evening. I believe it was between 6-8pm. I’ve had the pleasure of meeting the owner and visiting the place before it even opened. The owner is a very kind person and I think her concept for BerriBlends is very promising! I almost took a job there, but I realized that it would be a long drive to work normal hours. When driving to BerriBlends, for some reason I had no idea that Richmond extends as far as it does. I thought, hey if it’s in Richmond, it must be right around the corner of my house! Boy I was wrong. BerriBlends is located on Mason Road. If I had driven just a little bit further I would have ended up in Katy Texas. I’m surprised that the area BerriBlends is considered Richmond because it seems like Katy. But it’s in Richmond nonetheless. Where have I been all these years?

Overall, I think the location is great because I can’t think of one coffee shop in that immediate area. Once inside, the barista said hi and I walked towards the counter. On the way there, I noticed that the entire shop was extremely spacious. There was a pretty good amount of seating in there too. At the front, the barista asked what I would like, and I asked for a White Mocha. She looked kind of confused, but I don’t blame her. It was probably the first White Mocha she’s ever made in her life, and there’s a first time for everything. What differentiates her attitude from lets say–the Black Walnut Cafe (where I had the same situation) is that she seemed eager to learn and make it. The employees at Black Walnut Cafe had no idea on how to make a White Mocha, but they seemed kinda indifferent about it. She asked another employee that night if he knew how to make it, and they both took a look at some recipe cards they had. While they were figuring that out, I took a look at the menu, and I must say it was very impressive. One side had all your espresso/coffee basics listed and the other side had a variety of specialty espresso drinks with blended flavors. Somewhat similar Java Dave’s (Sugar Land) crazy drink selections. One my right there was a case with some very attractive pastries displayed. They looked fresh and handmade.

After I paid, I sat in one of the chairs at the very front and began my scan of the store. I love places with high ceiling because it always makes a place feel much larger than it really is. BerriBlends had a high ceiling with cute little lights placed about. The walls were colorful and bright and fit the theme of the store. There was a bright rug under the coffee table of where I was seated. It looked like one of those Berri Lifesavers candies, almost good enough to eat. There was a flat screen television hanging on the wall in front of me displaying Fox news. One of the baristas asked if I wanted to change the channel, but it was a day before the official election day so I decided to let it stay. The place reminds me of Dulce Tapioca in a way, because of the color choices and theme. You can tell that the place is targeted towards families. People with children and everything like that. Towards the back of the store they had a little play area for children complete with a mini-TV displaying what appeared to be educational cartoons. I’ve never seen anything like this in any shop before. You have to give them the props for being unique and not following a trend. They know exactly who they are marketing to and how to go about it. BerriBlends is also a frozen yogurt shop and has a really unique concept. You start at one end by picking your preferred container size complete with lids. You pick your own flavors (and you can mix and match them), and fill your container with as much as you want. You can then add toppings from a buffet-style section that had almost anything you can think of. Nuts, m&ms, sprinkles, chocolate sauces, caramel sauce, and there were so many that I can’t even remember them all. From what I remember they had like 4-6 machines (just a rough estimate. not exact. My memory is kind of fuzzy right now) lined up in a row that had all kinds of frozen yogurt flavors. Then next to it, they had the row with all the toppings and everything. I just had to try some! We’ll get to that later.

I didn’t need to go to the pick-up bar and grab my drink because it was brought to me by one of the employees. So I sat my drink down on the coffee table to let it cool for a while. At first taste, I think it tasted like a like a pretty good Latte, butnot so much White Mocha flavor. It wasn’t very sweet, and I didn’t really taste the White Chocolate. The espresso was good and I have no complaints about that.  The White Mocha in general was just okay. It could used some improvement, but for a first try, they did pretty good. It could have used a pump or two more of White Chocolate syrup, and that is pretty much my main complaint. I’ve had worse White Mochas’ at shops that have been in business for years!

Overall, the store is very clean, spacious, and comfortable. The employees were very nice, and they tried their best on my White Mocha. This place will appeal to all ages, but for the first time, a place that encourages bringing your kids. Even though kids are the most destructive beings on earth, BerriBlends is the place to take them. I’m bringing my family in one day.

Now for something different!

FROZEN YOGURT!!!

After finishing my White Mocha, I went back to the counter to give frozen yogurt my first try. I can honestly admit that I had never tried frozen yogurt in my life. I love Yoplait and Trix regular yogurt. Never had I tried frozen yogurt though. So I tried a sample of the yogurts. Three types interested me. The plain (which resembled vanilla ice cream), Strawberry, and Berri. I ended up liking all three, but I think Strawberry was my favorite. Frozen yogurt is pretty good! In my opinion it tasted fresh (almost like real fruit smoothies) and not as overly sweet as ice cream. So I loaded one of the cups up with those three flavors and added my toppings. At the front, my total came out to be like $16! I was kind of caught off guard. I was like “What!? Really?” But it was pretty much my fault, being the clueless person that I am. I should have paid more attention to how everything works. They charge by the weight of your final product (brilliant payment strategy). For some reason, I thought that it was charged by the size of the container you picked out. I was wrong. I packed my container pretty full. So no wonder it came out to be so much! I was okay with it though, I was just caught off guard for a second. Besides, I brought it home to share with my family. They liked it. So, yeah that was pretty fun. Hey, you know what they should make one day? White Chocolate Frozen Yogurt!

Employee Friendliness: 5 Cups

Scenery: 5 Cups

White Mocha: 3 Cups

Overall: 4 Cups

Address:

9825 S. Mason Rd.
Richmond, TX 77406

Website: http://www.berriblends.com/

Drive-Thru: No

Franchise: No

Notes: Free Wi-Fi, good frozen yogurt, family oriented, good service, interesting concept, and nice location.

Visited: Um, everyday?

No seriously, my house! The one I live in! As you can see, I like to have a little fun, and I so I decided to try something a little different this time.

So I have a Saeco Barista Espresso Machine that I’ve had boxed in my room for a few months. I rarely use it. I bought it while I was still in high school. It was fun for practicing latte art, making drinks for the family, and just messing around with it. It was expensive, but not nearly as expensive as the one I really wanted. I wanted the the Rancilio Silvia, the ultimate in-home espresso machine. I didn’t have the $600 to spend on one of those babies, and so I bought a “Saeco Barista” (also called the “Starbucks Barista”) that was much cheaper, but overall was more than worth it. The Starbucks Barista machine was so awesome! It produced quality espresso shots, it was shiny and pretty, and it just looks awesome on a kitchen counter. I also loved how the steam wand doubled as a hot water spout! With a twist of the side button, it would shoot out hot water. This water could be used for americanos, teas, oatmeal, mini-baths (kidding kidding), etc. It’s a very nice novice machine. The only cons I can think of are three things. First, the steam wand is on the left side and is positioned very awkwardly. It takes some getting used to. Also, you have to wait for a green light on the machine to come on before you can steam milk or pull shots. That light basically tells you when the temperature of the machine is hot enough to do those things. That’s not bad at all, except for the fact that the light will go on and off as soon as I start steaming anything. It’s like it can’t keep a constant temperature once it starts performing an action. Last, it was extremely loud! When ever I pulled shots, it produced a really deep humming sound. If I lived alone, I probably wouldn’t care so much. Since I don’t, I would have to deal with angry eyes from disgruntled family members for interrupting their favorite morning TV show. I eventually boxed it back up and set it in my room for storage.

Well, this morning I took it out to make a White Mocha! It’s not like I’ve never done this before, but it has been a few months. Before doing anything else, I had to clean, descale, and calibrate the machine. That took a good 30 minutes or so. After that, I set it up in the corner of my kitchen’s counter and it brought back memories! I took out a small ceramic cup, capable of holding about 14-16 ounces. I poured about an ounce or two of Da Vinci White Chocolate Syrup on the bottom of the cup. Then, I grabbed my mini-steaming pitcher and poured a few ounces of fresh Whole Milk from the refridge. With the pitcher and thermometer in hand I started to steam the milk and I stopped once I reached 150 Degrees. Next, I tamped the espresso (not really, I don’t have a tamper. but we’ll make believe that I did *wink wink*), and started my shots and waited patiently as it poured into a single shot glass. After it filled up to the ounce line in the shot glass, I poured the shot directly into the nearby ceramic cup that I had prepared earlier. All that was left is whipped creme. I didn’t have any canned whip, so I just topped it off with a spoon of CoolWhip. It’s not exactly the same, but it worked for me!

My White Mocha came out good, but not the best. Are you surprised? I’m not. There are many things that contributed to this. I didn’t use my favorite espresso roast. Plus the espresso that I used was not really an espresso blend per se. It was really a dark roast coffee blend, but turned out okay used as espresso. It was sweet (because I made it that way) and the espresso was kind of bland because the roast I used is like 2 weeks old. I didn’t feel like going out and buying anything that I didn’t already have at home because I’m not really taking this serious anyways. If I really wanted to, I could make an excellent White Mocha. That would require some better supplies on my part. I’d rather someone else make it for me until I one day have my weapons of choice. Those weapons would include:

• a Rancilio Silvia

• a top of the line grinder

• a Reg Barber tamper

• Ghirardelli White Chocolate Syrup

• and a bag of Lavazza espresso roast.

Too bad my weapons of choice are friggin expensive as heck! I think combined with my barista skills, those items would help me achieve the goal of making the most awesome White Mocha any human being could possibly make.

The overall scenery of my home could be rated at a high 4, thanks to my mother’s inseparable fascination with massive unnecessary decorations. Once you walk in my house, you’ll notice to bright white floor tiles and you’ll see more plants, picture frames, lamps, vases, figurines, and rugs, than you’ll ever see anywhere else. Our house would seem much bigger if there were less, “things”. Now, if my scenery score was based solely on my room, it would be totally be a 1.

Is this review extremely biased and totally not serious? Yes! Do I care? No!

Employee Friendliness: 5 Cups (I’m the only employee, b*tches!)

Scenery: 5 Cups (Thanks Mom)

White Mocha: 4 Cups (Okay fine, it was really a 3. But I want a 4)

Overall: 5 Cups

Address:

Undisclosed location in Richmond/Sugar Land Texas area.

Website: http://www.tallwhitemocha.com/

Drive-Thru: Yes, my garage.

Franchise: No

Notes: Free Wi-Fi for visiting family members, beds, televisions, backyard patio, and showers. And yeah…I’m working on a sleeve. I’ll post it once finished.