Visited: November 3rd, 2008

Ah…so I slacked off a little. I haven’t been online in ages due to working two jobs (I always make excuses…hehe). Seriously though, I feel like I’m already drained and it hasn’t even been that long. You try working two jobs and see if you have time to do this! Well anyways, I’m reviewing a new shop called BerriBlends! I’m reporting 2 weeks late, but it’s better late than never.

I drove to BerriBlends in Richmond on November 3rd pretty late in the evening. I believe it was between 6-8pm. I’ve had the pleasure of meeting the owner and visiting the place before it even opened. The owner is a very kind person and I think her concept for BerriBlends is very promising! I almost took a job there, but I realized that it would be a long drive to work normal hours. When driving to BerriBlends, for some reason I had no idea that Richmond extends as far as it does. I thought, hey if it’s in Richmond, it must be right around the corner of my house! Boy I was wrong. BerriBlends is located on Mason Road. If I had driven just a little bit further I would have ended up in Katy Texas. I’m surprised that the area BerriBlends is considered Richmond because it seems like Katy. But it’s in Richmond nonetheless. Where have I been all these years?

Overall, I think the location is great because I can’t think of one coffee shop in that immediate area. Once inside, the barista said hi and I walked towards the counter. On the way there, I noticed that the entire shop was extremely spacious. There was a pretty good amount of seating in there too. At the front, the barista asked what I would like, and I asked for a White Mocha. She looked kind of confused, but I don’t blame her. It was probably the first White Mocha she’s ever made in her life, and there’s a first time for everything. What differentiates her attitude from lets say–the Black Walnut Cafe (where I had the same situation) is that she seemed eager to learn and make it. The employees at Black Walnut Cafe had no idea on how to make a White Mocha, but they seemed kinda indifferent about it. She asked another employee that night if he knew how to make it, and they both took a look at some recipe cards they had. While they were figuring that out, I took a look at the menu, and I must say it was very impressive. One side had all your espresso/coffee basics listed and the other side had a variety of specialty espresso drinks with blended flavors. Somewhat similar Java Dave’s (Sugar Land) crazy drink selections. One my right there was a case with some very attractive pastries displayed. They looked fresh and handmade.

After I paid, I sat in one of the chairs at the very front and began my scan of the store. I love places with high ceiling because it always makes a place feel much larger than it really is. BerriBlends had a high ceiling with cute little lights placed about. The walls were colorful and bright and fit the theme of the store. There was a bright rug under the coffee table of where I was seated. It looked like one of those Berri Lifesavers candies, almost good enough to eat. There was a flat screen television hanging on the wall in front of me displaying Fox news. One of the baristas asked if I wanted to change the channel, but it was a day before the official election day so I decided to let it stay. The place reminds me of Dulce Tapioca in a way, because of the color choices and theme. You can tell that the place is targeted towards families. People with children and everything like that. Towards the back of the store they had a little play area for children complete with a mini-TV displaying what appeared to be educational cartoons. I’ve never seen anything like this in any shop before. You have to give them the props for being unique and not following a trend. They know exactly who they are marketing to and how to go about it. BerriBlends is also a frozen yogurt shop and has a really unique concept. You start at one end by picking your preferred container size complete with lids. You pick your own flavors (and you can mix and match them), and fill your container with as much as you want. You can then add toppings from a buffet-style section that had almost anything you can think of. Nuts, m&ms, sprinkles, chocolate sauces, caramel sauce, and there were so many that I can’t even remember them all. From what I remember they had like 4-6 machines (just a rough estimate. not exact. My memory is kind of fuzzy right now) lined up in a row that had all kinds of frozen yogurt flavors. Then next to it, they had the row with all the toppings and everything. I just had to try some! We’ll get to that later.

I didn’t need to go to the pick-up bar and grab my drink because it was brought to me by one of the employees. So I sat my drink down on the coffee table to let it cool for a while. At first taste, I think it tasted like a like a pretty good Latte, butnot so much White Mocha flavor. It wasn’t very sweet, and I didn’t really taste the White Chocolate. The espresso was good and I have no complaints about that.  The White Mocha in general was just okay. It could used some improvement, but for a first try, they did pretty good. It could have used a pump or two more of White Chocolate syrup, and that is pretty much my main complaint. I’ve had worse White Mochas’ at shops that have been in business for years!

Overall, the store is very clean, spacious, and comfortable. The employees were very nice, and they tried their best on my White Mocha. This place will appeal to all ages, but for the first time, a place that encourages bringing your kids. Even though kids are the most destructive beings on earth, BerriBlends is the place to take them. I’m bringing my family in one day.

Now for something different!

FROZEN YOGURT!!!

After finishing my White Mocha, I went back to the counter to give frozen yogurt my first try. I can honestly admit that I had never tried frozen yogurt in my life. I love Yoplait and Trix regular yogurt. Never had I tried frozen yogurt though. So I tried a sample of the yogurts. Three types interested me. The plain (which resembled vanilla ice cream), Strawberry, and Berri. I ended up liking all three, but I think Strawberry was my favorite. Frozen yogurt is pretty good! In my opinion it tasted fresh (almost like real fruit smoothies) and not as overly sweet as ice cream. So I loaded one of the cups up with those three flavors and added my toppings. At the front, my total came out to be like $16! I was kind of caught off guard. I was like “What!? Really?” But it was pretty much my fault, being the clueless person that I am. I should have paid more attention to how everything works. They charge by the weight of your final product (brilliant payment strategy). For some reason, I thought that it was charged by the size of the container you picked out. I was wrong. I packed my container pretty full. So no wonder it came out to be so much! I was okay with it though, I was just caught off guard for a second. Besides, I brought it home to share with my family. They liked it. So, yeah that was pretty fun. Hey, you know what they should make one day? White Chocolate Frozen Yogurt!

Employee Friendliness: 5 Cups

Scenery: 5 Cups

White Mocha: 3 Cups

Overall: 4 Cups

Address:

9825 S. Mason Rd.
Richmond, TX 77406

Website: http://www.berriblends.com/

Drive-Thru: No

Franchise: No

Notes: Free Wi-Fi, good frozen yogurt, family oriented, good service, interesting concept, and nice location.

Visited: Um, everyday?

No seriously, my house! The one I live in! As you can see, I like to have a little fun, and I so I decided to try something a little different this time.

So I have a Saeco Barista Espresso Machine that I’ve had boxed in my room for a few months. I rarely use it. I bought it while I was still in high school. It was fun for practicing latte art, making drinks for the family, and just messing around with it. It was expensive, but not nearly as expensive as the one I really wanted. I wanted the the Rancilio Silvia, the ultimate in-home espresso machine. I didn’t have the $600 to spend on one of those babies, and so I bought a “Saeco Barista” (also called the “Starbucks Barista”) that was much cheaper, but overall was more than worth it. The Starbucks Barista machine was so awesome! It produced quality espresso shots, it was shiny and pretty, and it just looks awesome on a kitchen counter. I also loved how the steam wand doubled as a hot water spout! With a twist of the side button, it would shoot out hot water. This water could be used for americanos, teas, oatmeal, mini-baths (kidding kidding), etc. It’s a very nice novice machine. The only cons I can think of are three things. First, the steam wand is on the left side and is positioned very awkwardly. It takes some getting used to. Also, you have to wait for a green light on the machine to come on before you can steam milk or pull shots. That light basically tells you when the temperature of the machine is hot enough to do those things. That’s not bad at all, except for the fact that the light will go on and off as soon as I start steaming anything. It’s like it can’t keep a constant temperature once it starts performing an action. Last, it was extremely loud! When ever I pulled shots, it produced a really deep humming sound. If I lived alone, I probably wouldn’t care so much. Since I don’t, I would have to deal with angry eyes from disgruntled family members for interrupting their favorite morning TV show. I eventually boxed it back up and set it in my room for storage.

Well, this morning I took it out to make a White Mocha! It’s not like I’ve never done this before, but it has been a few months. Before doing anything else, I had to clean, descale, and calibrate the machine. That took a good 30 minutes or so. After that, I set it up in the corner of my kitchen’s counter and it brought back memories! I took out a small ceramic cup, capable of holding about 14-16 ounces. I poured about an ounce or two of Da Vinci White Chocolate Syrup on the bottom of the cup. Then, I grabbed my mini-steaming pitcher and poured a few ounces of fresh Whole Milk from the refridge. With the pitcher and thermometer in hand I started to steam the milk and I stopped once I reached 150 Degrees. Next, I tamped the espresso (not really, I don’t have a tamper. but we’ll make believe that I did *wink wink*), and started my shots and waited patiently as it poured into a single shot glass. After it filled up to the ounce line in the shot glass, I poured the shot directly into the nearby ceramic cup that I had prepared earlier. All that was left is whipped creme. I didn’t have any canned whip, so I just topped it off with a spoon of CoolWhip. It’s not exactly the same, but it worked for me!

My White Mocha came out good, but not the best. Are you surprised? I’m not. There are many things that contributed to this. I didn’t use my favorite espresso roast. Plus the espresso that I used was not really an espresso blend per se. It was really a dark roast coffee blend, but turned out okay used as espresso. It was sweet (because I made it that way) and the espresso was kind of bland because the roast I used is like 2 weeks old. I didn’t feel like going out and buying anything that I didn’t already have at home because I’m not really taking this serious anyways. If I really wanted to, I could make an excellent White Mocha. That would require some better supplies on my part. I’d rather someone else make it for me until I one day have my weapons of choice. Those weapons would include:

• a Rancilio Silvia

• a top of the line grinder

• a Reg Barber tamper

• Ghirardelli White Chocolate Syrup

• and a bag of Lavazza espresso roast.

Too bad my weapons of choice are friggin expensive as heck! I think combined with my barista skills, those items would help me achieve the goal of making the most awesome White Mocha any human being could possibly make.

The overall scenery of my home could be rated at a high 4, thanks to my mother’s inseparable fascination with massive unnecessary decorations. Once you walk in my house, you’ll notice to bright white floor tiles and you’ll see more plants, picture frames, lamps, vases, figurines, and rugs, than you’ll ever see anywhere else. Our house would seem much bigger if there were less, “things”. Now, if my scenery score was based solely on my room, it would be totally be a 1.

Is this review extremely biased and totally not serious? Yes! Do I care? No!

Employee Friendliness: 5 Cups (I’m the only employee, b*tches!)

Scenery: 5 Cups (Thanks Mom)

White Mocha: 4 Cups (Okay fine, it was really a 3. But I want a 4)

Overall: 5 Cups

Address:

Undisclosed location in Richmond/Sugar Land Texas area.

Website: http://www.tallwhitemocha.com/

Drive-Thru: Yes, my garage.

Franchise: No

Notes: Free Wi-Fi for visiting family members, beds, televisions, backyard patio, and showers. And yeah…I’m working on a sleeve. I’ll post it once finished.

It’s been a while hasn’t it? This month is nearly over. Halloween is approaching. It’s starting to get cool outside. It’s crazy how fast time goes by.

Anyways, in many of my posts, I have talked about “Alternative Milks” and how I dislike most of them. I do, with the exception of Breve. I promised that I would make a post about why and what I think. So here it is finally.

My opinion of other milks are as follows:

2%:

Good: Less fat…

Bad: It lacks the full flavor of Whole Milk. Bland.

Nonfat:

Good: Meh…

Bad: Might as well drink water… That’s what it tastes like to me.

Soy:

Good: Very good to drink hot and cold. Flavorful, organic, and nice health benefits.

Bad: Doesn’t taste so good with White Chocolate.

Breve (Half & Half):

Good: Whole and rich. It’s about as creamy as milk gets! Breve White Mochas are beyond good. It’s like pure liquid ecstasy.

Bad: VERY HIGH IN FAT! I mean ridiculously high! Not that it’s ever affected me, but I can only imagine what would happen if I were to start drinking it as much as I drink water.

Keep in mind my opinions are based on their taste in relation to the White Chocolate Mocha. I don’t drink milk just by itself without anything else. There are maybe a few others that I haven’t covered, but I’ve only listed the ones that I have had the chance of tasting. Whole Milk was not covered, because it is normally the default milk used in coffee shops. (Plus it’s like perfect yo!) Therefore I branded the other milks as “alternatives”.

Short post, more to come. I’ve been really strapped for time lately. I’ll be back! In a coffee shop near you.

Visited: October 20th, 2008

Before making my way to Cafe Europe, I stopped at the Coffeeworks Cuvee Wine Bar in Sugar Land. Unfortunately, they have shut their doors permanently. It’s kind of sad because it was a relatively new establishment. They just opened not so long ago. It’s only been maybe 3 months at the most. It’s always sad to see a small business go under. Perhaps there was more to it than business. Maybe the owners have some personal reasons for closing the store. Too bad I didn’t get a chance to visit it before it closed! It barely opened, and so I would have never expected that.

Anyways, back to Europe yo. Cafe Europe is on Westheimer located in a shopping center on a corner. I finally arrived around 2:30 and couldn’t wait to see what it has to offer. Despite being on the corner of a shopping center, the outdoor decor still managed to impress me. Their outdoor patio is beautiful. I have never seen such beautiful seating and tables. The kind of chairs and tables that were out on their patio are the kind I would expect to see in an upscale lounge/club. Surrounding the patio were a few large red umbrellas. 95% of the patio was shaded by these umbrellas. I was almost tempted to order my drink and then sit out there, but no.

Once inside, the place was virtually empty besides one other customer. There was no menu displayed in the front, which is good in my opinion. A menu display wouldn’t really fit the theme of Cafe Europe. There was one employee behind the counter and I asked her if they had a White Chocolate Mocha. She asked, “For here or to go?”. I chose to stay and stood at the counter and watched.  She pulled out a glass and poured about an ounce of Ghirardelli White Chocolate Syrup at the bottom. I found this very interesting because I’ve never had one served in a glass before. Then I watched her approach a small little semi-automatic espresso machine. Next to the machine she grabbed a portafilter and tamped the espresso. Then she quickly replaced the portafilter and hand pulled the espresso shot. The next thing that I noticed is that she re-steamed the milk that was already in a pitcher. I don’t mind much. I knew that the milk she was resteaming was left from someone who had recently been in there. I could tell because it only took a few seconds before she stopped steaming. That meant that the milk in the pitcher was still hot. After the shot was pulled, she poured it in the glass and filled the remaining space with the hot milk. After stirring it a bit, she topped it off with canned whipped creme. It looked so beautiful! I couldn’t wait to try it.

After getting my drink, I sat at a high table in the very front so that I could gain a good view. (Don’t I do that every time? hehe). The inside of Cafe Europe was kind of small due to the fact that the other section was closed off. They probably don’t open that section until later on in the evening. The store overall was very clean, shiny, and fancy. There were high tables spread out all over and a few booths on the far-right of the store. Soft elavator music played through the speakers. I would have preferred hearing Eurotrance!

So finally, I began to sip my White Mocha from the straw. Yes that’s right, a straw. It was so different drinking a HOT White Chocolate Mocha from a glass with a plastic straw. I’ve had White Mocha’s in ceramic cups, but never in a glass. It was very different! The White Mocha was really good in the end. Very delicious, but very sweet. At first it was a little too sweet. It took a few minutes for everything to kind of mix up. After that, it turned out really good.

Overall, it was a nice escape from the average coffeehouse. There were no hot European guys! I think they all come late at night. From what I’ve heard, Cafe Europe is a hotspot at night. I remember talking to some guy somehwere and he told me that it is more of a cafe/coffeehouse in the early hours, and a lounge/club type atmosphere at night. He also said that the place is usually packed at night and has mostly a mix of foreign Europeans and Middle Easterns. Unfortunetly, I saw a sign on the door that read “21 and Up After 10pm”. It’s okay. I doubt I would want a White Chocolate Mocha that late anyways. You know exactly what I would rather drink that late anyways. ;-)  But nooo…they just have to have the 21 and up attitude. Is that how they do it Europe? I don’t think so. What if I wanted to just sit and look at all the hot Swedes and Turks and Italians and Cristiano Ronaldo look-alikes and okay…I’ll stop. Screw it. One day I’ll just fly to Amsterdam!

Employee Friendliness: 3 Cups (Meh. Just average.)

Scenery: 4 Cups

White Mocha: 4 Cups

Overall: 4 Cups

Address:

2711 Fountain View Dr Ste C
Houston, TX 77057

Website: None

Drive-Thru: No

Franchise: No

Notes: No Wi-Fi, no hot European guys (at the time I went), White Mocha served in a glass so there is no need for a sleeve, pretty, night hotspot, blah.