About Me and This Blog
Who I am
My name is Julia and I can't get enough of coffee and traveling. If you share my love for these two, you will probably appreciate this blog.
The nice features of drinking coffee are that...
It keeps you going when you are busy and sleepy, it gives you a warm feeling from the inside, it is a social connector to friends and strangers alike and... it tastes fabulous.
Traveling is not that different from drinking coffee in many ways: a plan to travel keeps you excited for many weeks in advance (and afterwards), while the journey itself can be warm and chill like a summer breeze or full of action like driving on a windy mountain road. Anyways you can be sure you will always come back with a bag full of memories and maybe even new friendships. You might have even met some of those those travel companions in a nice little café far away from home?
Why this blog?
I would like to share my passion for traveling and coffee with people who think alike.
I realized during my previous trips that finding a nice café with good quality coffee and a comfy atmosphere can be a real challenge at times and it is always a pity if you spot these "hidden" gems on one of your last days before traveling to your next destination.
I hope that you can benefit from my searching and tasting efforts during your travels or even within your neighbourhood. I hope this platform can even serve as a medium for sharing your thoughts about coffee places with the community.
I welcome all of you to my little coffee-loving community and remember:
Drink coffee, sail away
How I rate coffee places - The bean award system
My approach to evaluating cafés
Of course everyone has different preferences when it comes to places to drink coffee, meet friends or hang out. And depending on which of the previously mentioned activities you are following, there is probably not one best choice satisfying all your needs.
To my mind it is about the right balance of tasty coffee and coffee specialties, a vibrant, inspiring atmosphere without being too loud or crowded, cozy sitting areas and staff who is welcoming you with a smile. Drinking coffee, whether alone or with a friend, is about sitting down and taking a break - from the noisy streets outside, from your packed calender, from any other sources of stress in your life.
I would like to point out that I am not so fond of upscale places when it comes to cafés.
Therefore, if you are more looking for the high-tea, fancy cocktail bar-style of café you might not like my favorites that much.
In the end, the profiles that I create on the cafés I have visited are subjective and based on personal opinion. However, by applying every time the same evaluation scheme, I try to ensure a level of consistency and transparency. The bean award system on this website tries to combine the above mentioned factors by considering four dimensions with different weighting/importance. These factors are:
- 40% Taste (coffee/cappuccino)
- 20% Atmosphere
- 20% Value for money
- 20% Extras
All factors are valued on a scale from 0-5 beans, where 5 is the best rating and zero a definite no-go recommendations.
I usually tend to drink cappuccino and will rate the quality of the cappuccino but sometimes I may have a craving for something else (rarely but yes it can happen). In this case I will mention in my review which drink I had, so it becomes clear that the taste rating does not apply to coffee.