I've had several lattes and baked goods at this new coffee shop in Clinton and I'm pleased. The atmosphere and flavor of the coffee is amazingly close to the West Coast sort of shops found from Seattle to San Diego (*). Service is up-beat and professional, without the corporate ambiance we associated with Starbucks. The coffee is roasted to a slightly char, but not burned -- truly authentic (**). The flavor is comparable to Coffee Bean, which has more character than Starbucks. They have both regular and decaffeinated coffees and will mix them to your specification. So, if you want 'half-caff,' you can get it. And, you can specify the temperature of your Latte (I like mine 140F.) The crowd is mixed ranging from Kurt Colbain/Tommy Lee clones to polished corporate types with some students mixed in. And yes, you do see a lot of babes pampering themselves with a posh brew and fancy cupcake. The atmosphere is very informal, so feel comfortable in anything ranging from your stylishly torn grunge to your Armoni Suit with your Rolex and Mont Blanc pen (Oops! I just had a California flashback). The music is loud enough to be enjoyed, while allowing comfortable conversation. The musical smorgasbord contains a mix of classic Big-Band (Sinatra), Pop Rock (Adele, The Cars), to contemporary Folk and Club Dance (sometimes bordering on Trance, but no banging or galloping Techno). If you hang around, don't be surprised to hear some Enya or vintage Jean Luc Ponty. The music tends to be lyrical, rather than purely instrumental. Thankfully, they do not subject us to Hillbilly (no Boxcar Willie) or Twang. WiFi internet access connects quickly and works well - a must-have for many of us. When I walk out, I have the feeling I get when I am headed out for a stroll on Torry Pines beach in Del Mar, CA (San Diego area).
* I've lived and worked in cities such as Phoenix, San Diego, Los Angeles, Seattle, Chicago, Minneapolis, St Louis, and many more. 392 Caffe has the same up-beat professional ambiance I experience in top-tier coffee shops in large metro areas. It's hard to describe, but a nice metropolitan place has a special type of pleasing energy, which is comfortable for those of us who work with a 'sense of ugency.' I can relax, but I don't get sleepy. For the proper coffee experience, your cup must be brewed and served by nice people who know what they are doing and care about the quality of their products and service -- that is 392 Caffe. So, I go to 392, get a brew, fire up my laptop or iPad, and I'm part of the world.
** In this addendum, I cover a few reasons why a good coffee shop can provide better coffee than most people can brew at home or get in a common restaurant: 1) Coffee beans must be carefully roasted and have a limited shelf life. A few weeks after roasting, chemical changes begin, the flavors go out of balance, and the coffee looses it's richness becoming acidy and bitter. 392 Caffe orders carefully from a custom roasting house, so the coffee beans are always fresh; 2) Bean containers should be hermetically sealed until used. Otherwise flavor floats away and the coffee goes out of balance. In stores, bulk beans are usually in unsealed bins. 392 Caffe goes through more than one bag of beans per day, so the beans are always fresh; 3) Grinding coffee beans is actually an important topic. Grinding the beans releases the flavors, so the beans should be ground immediately before brewing. Have you ever opened a can of pre-ground coffee and smelled the aroma? It's enough to fill a room! But, the coffee you brew doesn't have a flavor or aroma like what was released. Well, as the pre-ground coffee sat on the store shelf, a lot of flavor was transferred to the air in the can, ready to float away, and that is exactly what happened. Plus, the type and speed of grinding makes a big difference. If the beans are ground too vigorously, flavor floats away. The best grinder is a 'burr grinder' that gently crushes and crumbles the beans, rather than blasting them to powder and arbitrary bits. A good precision burr grinder is expensive. The next time you visit 392 Caffe, observe that the coffee gently falls out of the grinder; 4) Brewing temperature must be proper and constant to maximally extract flavor. If the temperature is too low, richness is missed. If the temperature is too high, the taste of the fibers in the bean can be released and the coffee gets a woody flavor. Most home and restaurant coffee machines start brewing with very warm water and the temperature rises during the process. 392 has a brewing station with precision controlled water temperature. read more