A Nice Cuppa

I was wandering around one of Oakland???s big tourist traps, Jack London Square. The main strip of stores and restaurants are mostly chains and less than exciting. Pizza Uno, Starbucks inside the Barnes and Noble, Subway, nothing that can???t be found in any suburban shopping center. And like most coffee drinkers out there, I???m always excited to find a new spot for a cup of the good stuff.

Just a block off the main Jack London Square drag, I found a little shop set far back from the street, 3rd Street Grind. The front of the building is a large open deck with porch-type furniture. The paint on the sign was a bit faded, but the door read ???Open.??? Inside the store were some secondhand furniture, and the most eclectic collection of foodstuffs I???d seen in one coffee shop. Half the food was of the all-natural, organic, locally produced variety. The other half consisted of prepackaged Pop Tarts and candy bars. I ordered an iced espresso (one of my favorite summer beverages) and got to chatting with the person behind the counter.

He told me that 3rd Street Grind has been in that spot for more than a decade, but was bought last year by a man named Kulpreet. Kulpreet has been doing his darndest to breathe new life into the shop. New equipment, new drinks, new products, he???s running the whole gamut. It attracts the least amount of tourist traffic, but does good business from the surrounding office building workers, and lawyers on break from the nearby courthouse. I sipped my iced espresso, which was quite delightful. The barrista was a little inexperienced, but was more than happy to take direction. He knew all your more basic drinks, lattes, mochas etc, but ran into difficulty and annoyance when a teenaged girl walked in and asked for a ???venti mocha frappucino.??? Even after I explained to her that this wasn???t Starbucks, and that the frappucino is a registered trademark, she didn???t quite get it. But the guy behind the counter was more than happy to oblige, taking care to tell her ???your blended iced mocha is ready.???

This shop is still working to find their specific coffee niche, but will bend over backwards to give you what you want. And one thing they do splendidly is espresso. 3rd Street Grind exemplifies exactly the reason I avoid chains in tourist locations. The service is spectacular, few others actually know about it, so there???s rarely a rush. You get a chance to tell them exactly how you like your drink. And I hear the owner???s homemade curry lunches are to die for.

Location: 3rd Street between Broadway and Washington in Oakland???s Historic Jack London Square.