Tag Archives: coffee

Great Coffee In Yellville

Although I live in Flippin, my office is in Yellville. Yellville is the county seat for Marion County but with a population of 1170 people, it’s certainly not the big city.

We don’t have big city coffee shops but that doesn’t mean you can’t get a good cup of coffee. At The Loft Coffee Shop you can get just about any type of coffee drink you’d like. And, in my opinion, it tastes better than coffee you get in that large coffee shop chain you can find worldwide.

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Imagine That Flowers and Giftsis co-located with The Loft. You can order flowers and plants for delivery or buy a cute gift for your friend’s birthday. Since we’re moving to the country this week, I’ll probably need this little gift for myself.

I’m especially thankful to Lyndsey, the owner, who allowed me to debut my gourmet marshmallows (another blog!) in her shop last week.

I love these shops, their owner, employees, and products. If you’re in Yellville, stop by. I’m sure you’ll love them, too!

Social Media in the Real World

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I’ve written before about my reason for being on social media. It’s to be able to have coffee with a friend anywhere in the world. I’ve had coffee with one of my snapchat friends, nessamakes, who happens to live just a mile away from me. But we were heading to Jacksonville, FL for the Mrs.International Pageant and I was excited to see that one of my other snap friends, Dapromoqueen, lives there. I made arrangements to get together with her.

We met at a cute coffee shop called Urban Grind Coffee Shop. It was an easy walk from the Omni Hotel where we were staying and was on Laura Street. Now, I don’t like when someone calls me Laura (even though it’s my given name) but I had to have a photo with the cool Laura Street sign.

When Dapromoqueen aka Tory, arrived, we had to snap about our meeting, of course. We had a fun time visting. She’s so nice and genuine and I love that we felt like friends right away.

When we got ready to head back to the hotel we took a photo together. I’m really tall AND I had tall wedge shoes on. Tory was prepared for work and had flats on so I was WAY taller than she was. It was pretty funny!

THIS, my friends, is what social media is about in the real world. At least for me. I know I have a friend to share coffee with anywhere I go. I’m so glad I got to meet Tory. I hope I’ll get to meet you when I am in your town!

J is for Japantown

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Today, included in our walk, was a detour into Japantown.

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We wanted to try a new coffee shop but couldn’t find one beginning with J but there is a coffee shop in Japantown called Roy’s Station Coffee and Teas. I knew I could make Japantown be in the path of our walk and I’m glad I did.

We stopped into Roy’s. It’s a great coffee shop with an awesome patio outside. Where, of course, we sat.

I hate to tell you that I had another almond croissant but, when it comes to almond croissants, I’m weak, y’all, I’m weak. This croissant was so big and so delicious. The first thing I tasted was the butter but the almond taste was so nice.

David had a chocolate croissant which he said was really great, too. We both had their house coffee which was yummy. I do so love drinking out of a real cup. 😀

The people at Roy’s station were super nice and I know we’ll go there again because it was a nice experience. They, too, have a nice menu of not only drinks but food.

We then walked to the end of Jackson Street, which I would call the heart of Japantown.

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I loved how the traffic control system boxes have ninjas

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and dragons. 😀

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We considered living in Japantown and I really like it, but in the end, downtown won. Still, I’m sure we’ll at least go to Japantown for coffee at Roy’s again , if for no other reason. 🙂

I is for I Java

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So excited to do another downtown coffee shop and it’s not even Saturday! And I had coffee with a friend from Oklahoma who’s here for a convention!

I picked Amy up at her hotel and we walked around downtown a little bit before we found ourselves at the street that I Java is on. I hadn’t been over to that part of downtown yet so it was fun to see what was there. There are very, very wide sidewalks over there! 🙂

We were going to try another shop but then I realized today was I in the challenge and I had seen a sign for I Java when I was coming back from the grocery a week or so ago. When I looked, I found it was close to Amy’s hotel. Perfect!

I Java is a cute place. I love the tables and chairs on the inside (which I neglected to photograph) even though we chose to sit outside on this gorgeous morning.

They have a nice goodie case but I only had coffee today. After the pageant, I do hope to come back and try something yummy from their bakery case. 😉

They also have a very nice, large menu of breakfast, lunch and drinks.

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My coffee was delicious and I had it hot. Amy had hers iced. This is a nice shop, sort of off the beaten path. I’m not sure I would have found it if I hadn’t seen the sign the other day but I will definitely return. 😀

D is for Devine Grind

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devine_grind

I was excited when I learned that for the Saturdays in April’s A to Z Challenge, I could find coffee places to visit. Today, the first Saturday, is D and Devine Grind is right around the corner from where we live. I walk by all the time and was happy to finally go inside.

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We were greeted by Winifred, the owner. I was excited to see an almond croissant and told her that I was going to have one in honor of my half-birthday. She asked me what a half birthday was and seemed tickled at the idea and wished me a happy half birthday. Noticing her accent, I asked her where she was from. She told me Nigeria. At that point, David jumped in because he’s done a lot of work in Nigeria and they chatted about that for a little bit.

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We placed our order which Winifred offered to heat up for us. Then we took our coffee outside to sit. It was such a lovely morning and I’ve felt “outside eating” deprived for a long time and sit outside every chance we get.

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The almond croissant was delicious! I haven’t really eaten sugar like that since before September 1, 2014 and it made me feel a little wasted but it was such a nice treat along with the delicious coffee.

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David got a breakfast burrito that had eggs, sausage, hash browns and cheese, served with a side of salsa. He said it was really good, too.

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When we came back inside to drop off our dishes and say good bye, we got a chance to meet Winifred’s husband, Joseph. They are such nice people and our experience at Devine Grind is one I’ll look forward to replicating many times in the coming months! 🙂

Bel Bacio Cafe

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We’ve been in San Jose now for nearly a month and I decided it’s high time to start checking out the local coffee places. I think about it during my days when I’m running all over the place but I’ve been too busy to slow down and stop at those times. Plus, it’s more fun to explore with David.

We decided today that we’d try Bel Bacio Cafe at the end-ish of our morning walk.

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Bel Bacio is in a cute little house located in Little Italy. We walk through Little Italy every weekend and have had dinner at Paesano and attended the arch dedication ceremony Friday night so it seemed like a good place to start.

We walked over two miles before getting back to Bel Bacio and going inside. I was warm enough that I wanted to order an iced coffee and sit outside.

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David got a hot Americano and a Nutella croissant which he pronounced as “really good”. I think he was somehow surprised but it was NUTELLA. How could it be bad?

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When I check in on Yelp! I saw that we got a free coffee with the purchase of two pastries so we went ahead and got these cute little cookies as well.

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We then sat outside under and umbrella in the beautiful morning before concluding our 3+ mile walk.

We really enjoyed Bel Baccio Cafe and I know we will stop by there again really soon. The lady who served us was super friendly, the coffee and food were great, and we loved the atmosphere. 🙂

Big Shoulders Coffee: Kenya Kalilani

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At CoffeeCON, I received a bag of Kenya Kalilani by Big Shoulders Coffee from Anne Reuss.

The first thing I noticed about the coffee was that the bag smelled HEAVENLY. After it had been sitting in my car overnight, my car smelled HEAVENLY. 🙂

So I was really excited to try it. I am normally more of a dark roast fan and the bag shows it to be a medium roast and the website shows it as a light roast so I was a little hesitant. But how could something that smells that good be bad?

Now, I am a novice coffee reviewer. I know what I like but maybe don’t have the right words to tell you but I’m going to try.

I decided to try the Kenya Kalilani in my new Oskar by Sowden Softbrew. I questioned the Sowden vendor at CoffeeCON about the grind and he said I should grind it medium to fine.

I ground it. OMG. Have I mentioned how this coffee smells? Heavenly.

Then I put it into the Oskar filter basket, poured my water on top, stirred, replaced the lid and waited for four minutes.

This is a delicious cup of coffee. The flavor is amazing. I taste the sweet, the raspberry and cocoa. I don’t taste pine but, heck, maybe I want it to taste like gin? 😉

This is a cup of coffee I enjoy mid-morning when I just need one more cup and after I’ve gotten my initial four cup start to the day with a darker roast.

I totally recommend this coffee. If you can get me to give two thumbs up to a light to medium roast, it’s a good thing. 🙂

I was excited to both try the coffee and the Oskar so it was a long four minutes.

The coffee was amazing!

Carpe-ing the Java at Cafe’ Mondo

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After CoffeeCON, I drove out to where I call The Middle Of Nowhere, Illinois. I call it this because I get NO cell service there. It is my cousin’s house.

I love to visit here and just hang out and watch her animals. This time, there was no Llily the Llama as she had passed away since my last visit. There was, however, another dog named Cosette, lots of chickens, and kitties. The day it snowed, the mini horses were playing like little kids in the pasture. I wish I could have gotten video but I was so afraid they would stop when I opened the door.

We drove to the nearest town that was bigger than 84 people which is the population of the nearest town to them, Adeline.

My cousin had to run some errands and we stopped off at Cafe’ Mondo, in Freeport, for lunch. The cafe’ is cute and I loved the coffee pot display they had on one wall.

Of course you know that I needed coffee and I was happy to find Tanzanian Peaberry coffee as an offering. I’d never had it before and I liked it’s smooth, nutty flavor a lot.

The menu was nice with a lot of sandwich offerings. I chose the Colosseum Sandwich which was a grilled chicken breast, provolone cheese and tomatoes served hot on a bun. We also ordered a little piece of dessert to split that was chocolate and caramel. I don’t know the name but it was delish!

The service was very good and friendly. If I get back to Freeport, I’ll definitely stop back at Cafe’ Mondo. It was a good choice. 🙂

Carpe-ing the java at LaBriola Bakery Cafe’

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After a day of coffee, coffee, coffee at CoffeeCON, on Sunday I need to have…coffee. 🙂

When I knew I’d be in Chicago, I made plans to visit with a long time twitter friend, Jay Beaton aka @Chi_Coffee_Guy.

I was staying out in Oakbrook so a quick Google search of coffee + Oakbrook brought me to the LaBriola Bakery Cafe. Having no advance knowledge of where this place was in relationship to my hotel, I arranged to meet Jay there. And it was SO easy. Three roads in one. Cermak turned into West 22nd Street, turned into Butterfield Road and I was there. 🙂

And what a great choice I made! You see, I had also checked to see if they served Almond Croissants. They are my favorite and I have not found a real almond croissant in the state of Oklahoma yet.

I have fond memories of almond croissants at a no name coffee shop in New Orleans. Delicious and as big as my head. This one was very close to that.

I had to window shop through the other cases, too.

On instagram, my friend Suzie said of this next photo, “That right there is what Heaven will look like.” I think she’s right. As long as there’s a coffee pot somewhere in the area. 🙂

All in all, this was a great place to visit. The food (and coffee!), service and company were all top notch. You know my main goal in being on twitter is to meet people to have coffee with and it was good to share a cup with Jay. 🙂

Lauri Rottmayer

Catch the Rottitude!

Tag Archives: coffee

Great Coffee In Yellville

J is for Japantown

I is for I Java

D is for Devine Grind

Bel Bacio Cafe

Big Shoulders Coffee: Kenya Kalilani

Carpe-ing the Java at Cafe’ Mondo

Carpe-ing the java at LaBriola Bakery Cafe’