We're in the west river area of Chicago for a couple days with the kids for Spring break... And snow! Love any recommnedations for must do cafés while we're here. I was thinking of Intelligentsia and Metropolis, but happy to check any others out. Thanks!

I would check out Ipsento, they have a killer Panama Elida Natural

Also Gaslight and Bowtruss.

Gratzie, gents. Glad we brought our boots today!

Geoff, when you thaw out from the snow , please post follow up which cafe you decided and which drink(s) you consumed.

FWIW, my preferences for Chicago-proper cafes (in no particular order):
* Metropolis on Granville (it has free parking lot assuming you can find a spot)
* Intelligentsia on Broadway (nice spacious area for customers to sit)
* Wormhole (I love all the 1980's memorabilia)
* Ipsento (quaint upstairs seating area)

My favorites around Chicago in no particular except the first has to be:

Dark Matter 738 N Western Ave, Chicago, IL 60612.

Ipsento

Sawada Coffee - Great thing about this place is there is a killer BBQ and Ramen establishment in the same building!

cmin wrote:Loved them but don't think I can support them anymore with how Phil acts.

I agree, he has been bouncing checks left and right.

anyways. I really only like Ipsento these days. Gaslight is pretty good for pulling shots as well.

Thanks all for the suggestions. It was my first trip to Chicago with the family, but was able to ply a couple of side trips for coffee. Hit three places (tried for more, but PARKING in Chicago... really?? couldn't find a Bowtruss to try with easy parking that was close by). Looking forward to hitting all the missed places the next time we come visit. In order of preference.. and chronological order, to boot:

Ipsento: Love it - bought a couple bags of their house blend espresso while there too. My introverted personality doesn't lend to endless lines of adjectives, but there was a smokey, earthy, slightly even peaty hint to a chocolate backbone that I really liked.

Gaslight: Also had a good capp at Gaslight and fun to show the kids the roasting in progress in back. The house blend didn't quite stand out as much as Ipsento in the in the capp, but they had an espresso single origin (I think it was Burundi, IIRC) that was fantastic. It also had a smokey character, but maraschino cherry came through as the main fruit character. Reminded me of the smoked ice cube Old Fashioned all the hipster kids make these days.

Metropolis - I really loved Redline a while back. I think they used to use a heavy amount of a monsooned coffee or Rawanda or something to give it a good earthy whang, much like Victrola Cafe back in Seattle had. Last couple times we ordered, felt like it lost some of the special character it had, but we wanted to check it out as it had been a favorite in the past, and to make sure it wasn't user error. I think it's not the stand out it once was, but was a decent cup. The setting by Loyola there was very pretty.

Ran out of time but was looking forward to trying out Intelligensia while there, but luckily happened into Black Cat roasted on 3/1 for $10 / bag at the grocery store!

It's not a big sample, so would hate to draw big conclusions from this, but I'm glad to see the return to a more chocolatey, earthy line of coffee. I have been roasting a lot of Ethiopian and Kenyan coffees that have a big fruit / acidic character and it was a nice reminder to not neglect the other end of the scale. I was surprised when Adam at Ipsento said their Wildfire house blend was a mix of Guatemala & Brazilian coffees. I've neglected the Centrals for too long a time and looking forward to changing things up for a bit.