Jaunted

Coffee Talk: Gaylord's Caffe Espresso

10/09/2006 at 3:08 PM
Tags: Cafes, Coffee Shops (all tags)

Piedmont Avenue is a strip on the border of Oakland and suburb Piedmont (i.e. a safe area) that has a couple of blocks of shops, some restaurants and three big coffee houses. Two of them are chains--Starbucks and Peet's--but the third is the one worth checking out.

Gaylord's Caffe Espresso has been brewing up coffee drinks and ice cream since 1976, way before espresso became cool. Today the place is the anti-corporate america coffee shop that cares about its coffee drinks. The place has tons of personality from its alternative-looking yet happy employees to the artworks by local artists hung on the walls (and for sale) to the Pac-man table game.

There's also wireless internet access available for a $1 per hour fee. With that, you get a wifi code but one of the store employees said they never change the code and the system only ends up charging you once. So feasibly, until they change the code (which could be once a month) you have unlimited WiFi for a buck.

As with most espresso shops, you can get pretty much any drink your heart desires along with regular coffee too and some food. Plus, you'll feel much cooler having gone to Gaylord's than Starbucks across the street.

Insider Tip: Order your iced drinks with Gaylord's Coffee Cubes. They are essentially ice cubes made out of coffee so that as your iced drink starts to melt, it gets diluted with coffee instead of water. Take that, Starbucks!