Putting the Go in Chicago
Downtown Chicago has no shortage of places to get coffee or tea for your morning pick-me-up. Like Seattle, there’s a Starbucks on just about every corner downtown, with signs for new stores going in all over the place. But, if you are looking for a better than average cup, you’ll have to do a bit of searching. Intelligentsia, the coffee roaster that has my favorite green coffee beans, makes its home in the Chicago area and it’s worth the trip to one of it’s three retail shops to get a cup of its crema ladened brew. I made it into the Monadnock shop, a beautifully updated historic building, located very conveniently by the El and the Washington St. Blue line stop. If you do decide to stop in, be prepared for a bit of a wait. Each cup is carefully pulled by a barista who isn’t going to be rushed to make a less than perfect cup.
If you are looking for something a bit more exotic, be sure to stop into Vosges Haut Chocolat on Armitage Ave near Halsted. This chocolate shop features stunningly unique combinations of chocolate and spices, like ginger, wasabi, black sesame and 55% cacao dark chocolate. Better still, they serve up three incredible blends in hot chocolate form or with a shot of Intelligentsia espresso to create a wickedly good mocha. I tried the Aztec Elixier, which blends ancho y chipotle chili, dark chocolate, ceylon cinnamon, maizena and Mexican vanilla bean into a wonderfully sweet and spicy cup. My husband got the La Parisienne, a simpler but equally delicious combination of pure dark chocolate and Tahitian vanilla. If you can’t make it into their Armitage store, they have several other locations in the Chicago area, as well as a shop in New York (Soho) and Las Vegas. Or, you can order their couture cocoas online and make your own at home.
