A fortnight has passed since my last blog post, and once again I apologize for slacking. I've been all over the place. I spent some time in Dallas (and didn't hate it...details forthcoming I promise), and now I have been shipped off to New Hampshire for work for the foreseeable future. It's 34 degrees here. I don't want to talk about it.

I sit here in my hotel bed, eating lukewarm soup from Panera, watching the Astros (and their concerning offensive performance as of late) via some sketchy stream that's probably giving my computer a virus, and flipping through my phone for pictures of coffee shops I have visited recently. Reminiscing on a time, not so long ago, when I was back in Houston, where it was warm and sunny and humid and beautiful (okay probably not all of those at once). Please don't actually picture this. It's super depressing and/or pathetic.

Sorry...that was needlessly dramatic. I got like four hours of sleep last night so I'm feeling pretty weird. But I've always wanted to use 'fortnight' in a sentence. Anyway, here are some coffee places.

Cavo

Cavo is located in the Greenway area, and the crowd here was very River Oaks-y. It has the same owners as Siphon, so the two are about the same in terms of coffee options/quality (which is to say, it is very good), but the vibe at Cavo is decidedly different (i.e. less hipster). The interior is beautiful and there is a decent amount of seating, but this probably is not somewhere I would go to get work done (there is WiFi though). I do, however, want to steal most of this furniture for my apartment. Also the light fixtures. Would it really be a Liz coffee update if I didn't comment on some place's light fixtures?

Mercantile

Years of research. Making spreadsheets. Driving miles and miles out of the way to get to coffee shops. And somehow I overlooked this place for years. It's been open since before my coffee shop obsession began in 2015 (refer to the productivity post for the extremely boring story of how that started), so I have no excuse. It is located exactly 2.2 miles from my apartment, in the Montrose area. It's on a street I don't think I've ever even driven on. I have failed myself and all of my readers by not visiting this place sooner. (Actually, I'm just being dramatic again. The combination of these Arctic temperatures up here and the Astros' questionable offense is really stressing me out y'all.) Anyway, had I been to this place sooner, it easily would have made my productivity list. It's quiet, there is tons of seating (couches, picnic tables, bar stools, etc.), the WiFi works well, there's plenty of parking...checks all my boxes. Oh, and the coffee was fine. I realize I am not the most helpful coffee critic, seeing as I only ever order drip black coffee, and I'm not even going to pretend that I know the correct pretentious critic jargon to use to describe the taste of coffee to you. But if you have any insights on the coffee quality at any of these places that you would like to share, be my guest. I'm pretty sure these posts allow comments.

Bebidas

"Yay, I love coffee/blogging/being super basic!!!!!"

Congratulations to me on being the only remaining Houston food blogger who hadn't posted a picture of this place yet! Admittedly, the world of Houston amateur food journalism is somewhat lacking in originality (but hey, I DID refrain from posting a picture of the 'for the love of juice' sign that's inside. Mostly because I took one and it came out blurry). Whatever. We've clearly established that I have no shame at this point. Anyway, I would love to tell you more about the wonderful food and beverages this place has to offer ("healthy" boujee snacks like smoothies and acai bowls and stuff, plus mediocre coffee), but I know you're only coming here for the Insta. I mean, look how cute the sleeve on that coffee is! Full disclosure: I only ordered the coffee so I could take a picture with that cup. (Not pictured: my unfinished coffee from the previous location we visited that I brought to Bebidas with me and hid under the table. I told y'all I have no shame.) The smoothie, however, was legitimately fantastic (as it should have been, because I'm pretty sure I paid $8 for it). Mine was called 'The Dude,' and I don't remember which one Royce (@_reezydoesit) got, but we probably spent a solid five minutes just discussing how much we liked these smoothies. Just to reiterate - I do actually like this place. The patio is great for when the weather is nice, and it's a decent spot for productivity (hence the laptop, which I'm definitely actually working on here, obviously). It's also in River Oaks, close to Highland Village, making it a good pre- or post- shopping option. Parking is kind of a nightmare though.

That's all I've got on the coffee front for today.

Housekeeping items - follow me on Twitter! I just changed the handle on my personal account that I've had since '08 to @crushcitycult_ (because the max is 15 characters. It does kind of make it sound like I'm asking you to follow my cult though). I am trying to get in on the slightly terrifying world of Astros bloggers, so it's mostly going to be incoherent rants about baseball/people doing the wave. I cannot promise that it will be particularly funny or insightful. I realize this is a terrible plug. This post has been extra self-deprecating/generally negative. I blame the cold.

Also, I have made some promises in re upcoming posts that I have yet to come through on. I know you all have been patiently waiting and are extremely concerned. The non-terrible Dallas trip post, and part two of this post, which I seem to have implied when I (possibly ambitiously) titled this one 'part one,' are both coming soon. But I can't promise I'll be feeling less cynical by then.

I'll leave you on a positive note - hope everyone is having a fantastic week and drinking lots of (good) coffee! And if you're somewhere warm, please enjoy it; you don't know how lucky you are!

<3 liz