Camacho Watcho

Minnesota weather is very unpredictable. One day you’re outside in short sleeves…the next day you need to pull out the wool sweaters. You have to learn to just go with the flow. Although I think I’m pretty good at this, I have to say it was a bit confusing last week when we were hit with an afternoon of slushy snow. I am definitely not ready for winter, but I have to admit that it was a beautiful snowfall, especially the way the huge white flakes contrasted with the bright fall colors.

On a day like this there is only one thing to do – curl up in a coffee shop with a latte…which is exactly what I did.

Living in a large(r) city like Minneapolis has made me take coffee shops for granted. There is a Caribou on almost every corner, and where there isn’t a Caribou I’m sure Starbucks or Dunn Bros. is near. In addition to these larger chains there are also smaller coffee shops that survive in the busy, on-the-go coffee take-out world that we live in.

Morton, on the other hand, is a small town and home to 15,000 people. Four years ago the only decent place to get a cup of coffee was either McDonald’s or the gas station. Enter Katie Vandenberg. She recognized a need for caffeine in a cozy environment and she pounced on it. She bought an old Victorian house near the library and opened a coffee shop in February 2005. It turned out that this is exactly what this small town needed – a place with character and a warm environment to chat with friends while kids play in the yard. A place to bring your laptop and or book and relax with a cup of coffee. She’s also added great food like homemade buttery scones (my favorite are the cranberry – yum!) and granola to complement the Fair Trade Coffee that is served. Eli’s is a great addition to Morton and I enjoy going there when I’m in town.


Places like Eli’s make me think about my community a bit more. More specifically, the small businesses that add character to our community. I don’t think that we need to completely give up going Caribou and Dunn Bros. (note: I’m not a fan of Starbucks), but I will try to look for smaller coffee shops and frequent them more often. For example, the one pictured above on Lake Street in South Minneapolis – Blue Moon Coffee Cafe. It’s a great, casual atmosphere for reading and relaxing. So next time you need a cup of joe, consider driving past that chain cafe and stop in a coffee shop with character.

Eli’s Coffee
205 W. Jefferson Street
Morton, IL
309.263.0507

Blue Moon Coffee Cafe
3822 E. Lake Street
Minneapolis, MN
612.721.9230

A weekend of total relaxation with gourmet dinners, hikes in the woods, reading a great book and sleeping in. All shared with perfect companionship.

While reflecting back on the weekend on the final morning, I drank this cup of coffee. Perfection.

The Birchwood Cafe has long been serious about their food. With organic ingredients and homemade dishes they have lived up to their “Good Real Food” motto. Breakfast specialties like free-range egg scramblers, homemade organic granola and other sweet treats such as poppy seed waffles with fruit toppings have set them apart from the rest. Lunch and dinner specialties, although I have not frequented the Birchwood for these meals as often, have also proven to be top notch. To complement their first-rate food, last year they also got serious about their service. Whereas in the past you bussed your own table at the end of the meal, one day they began performing this service for us. A nice, albeit not necessary, touch.

So what is this about “serious” coffee? If there is one more improvement to make to Birchwood Cafe it is with their coffee. Certainly the quality of coffee is not an issue, but rather it is the service, or lack thereof. The Birchwood is the kind of place where you order your coffee at the counter and return back up to the counter to pay for and receive a refill. I don’t really mind paying for refills, but what is annoying is that the thick-sided ceramic mug that holds virtually 4-5 drinks of coffee is inevitably empty by the time my food arrives. The result is that I am always either out of coffee when I begin to eat or I have to go back up for a refill while my egg scrambler awaits me at the table. I am a coffee lover, so this is a problem. Typically I resolve this by quickly drinking my first cup, just so I can get a refill before the food arrives; certainly not the leisurely pace that I’m looking for on a weekend morning.

That was until today. We hadn’t been to the Birchwood for a while, but we could feel something was different as we sat down. Looking around us, we discovered that people had small, silver carafes of coffee at their tables and they were pouring their own refills while they ate. That was it; that was the difference. Kyle and I were just glancing down into our mugs of disappearing coffee, wishing we had known about this when we ordered, when a waitress appeared with a carafe of coffee and poured us refills. Fantastic! Of course we asked what was up with the coffee situation, to which she replied, “We are getting serious about our coffee service.”