Finding gems on the gulf coast: constant coffee + tea

I'm always hunting for good coffee spots whenever I enter a new city. My hope is always that even in a smaller city like Pensacola, FL -- there must still be a small demand for unconventional, non-machine brewed, and genuine (Okay yeah I know. Let's just get over the fact that I'm incredibly pretentious and snobby when it comes to coffee. What can I say? Life is too short for bad coffee.) fair trade coffee. It took me a bit of sniffing around the internet to finally come across Constant Coffee & Tea and a few other places in Pensacola. So right when S picked me up from the airport, I demanded that we hit up this place first so I can get my caffeine on. And we're so glad we did.

The cafe was pretty quiet when we turned up around 11AM-ish. There was one girl who seemed to be engrossed in her studies and an old couple who happened to be leaving right when we got there. The barista was welcoming and helpful -- plus I loved the abundance of natural light in the place. It felt more like walking into someone's house rather than another typical cafe.

I ordered a pourover of Counter Culture's REKO (my current fav as it is in season) beans, and while it was a leeeettle bit more saturated than I would've liked it to be, it was still really good. I need to stop chugging hot coffee like it's water. The cold brew was subtle and excellent as well - both cups strong enough to get us going for the rest of the day.

And the last photo taken with the iPhone. Also: I know. I need to redo my nails.

If you ever find yourself in Pensacola, you should definitely go check it out. It's spacious enough for even large groups, a pretty great study/work spot if you wish, and a pretty neat pit stop for travelers going through Pcola.

Peches.

Few weeks ago, a friend and I were driving around in DC listening to the radio (I don’t even know which station we were listening to) when this song came on. As first-time listeners, we went from apathetic to confused to a state of complete confusion mixed with a weird admiration as this serenade for peaches wore on. If the nation of peaches had a national anthem, this would be it. If you told me to name the best song dedicated to a food of choice since the milk and cereal song, this would definitely be it. I imagine the writer going on a summer road trip, finding a local peach stand on the side of the road, buying a few boxes of perfectly ripe peaches and spontaneously writing these thoughtful lyrics to express his undying love for the fruit. Whatever inspired whoever to write it, this song is awesome and does a perfect job expressing my personal opinion on one of the greatest fruit in the world: PECHES.

So yes. It’s my favorite summer fruit. We can argue all day about peaches vs watermelons vs cantaloupes vs black cherries vs whatever your favorite summer fruit is, but I probably will never change my mind. Anyway, I just felt like talking about that song for a post featuring peaches. Here’s a peach(+tomato) stand I had a chance to visit in Florida this past weekend.

sunday recap: Georgetown, hanging by the waters

Let's be real: I hate going to Georgetown. Yes, it's the nicer part of the city but still, I'm not a fan of being trampled by tourists while squeezing my way through its morbidly narrow sidewalks. Just never worth it. But last Sunday, with the realization that I hadn't been there in months, I made an active decision to mosey on over to the rich kids' part of the town to renew my hate for Georgetown. Okay, fine, I'm kidding, Georgetown is absolutely lovely. It's crowded but pretty nice. Anyway, here's a tiny tip: go down by the waters if you want a bit of breathing room. Take a stroll on the boardwalk, stare at the boat people and sip on cold coffee while you're at it. And there it was -- a lazy, lovely Sunday afternoon in Georgetown.

Washington DC from the top

Remember when the Washington monument used to look like this? (Washington monument with scaffolding, taken back in November 2013)

Well, if you haven't been in Washington D.C. in any recent months...tada! It's beautifully naked again. It's been pretty gloomy in DC lately...look at that ominous sky.

Anyway, I had the press privilege to go up the monument last Saturday before the memorial opened to the public on Monday. The National Park Service has installed new exhibitions and made repairs to the elevator that travels up and down the 555-ft obelisk. Although, I did hear that it broke down on Wednesday, sending hundreds of tourists down 896 steps from the observation level. The view up top was breathtaking. Unfortunately, we only had about 20 minutes at the observation level because there was another group of press people waiting downstairs. Here's the full story on the NewsHour rundown page.

Dolcezza at Mosaic district

An adventure that started out on the sheer mission of checking out the coolest-looking Target in Virginia turned into a total self-indulging and borderline barbaric gelato fest that perfectly wrapped up the warm spring weekend. One cannot simply go wrong with some gelato on a Sunday afternoon, especially if it's flavored dark chocolate and black sesame. Plus I was glad to finally check out Dolcezza - even though I've been more dying to try their Union Market location. This place is a happy concoction of coffee, ice cream, and beautiful interior. Yum.

It certainly seems like they have great coffee, but I was already too caffeinated at that point. Next time, though.

Also: you're not doing gelato right if you're not getting super messy and sticky while inhaling the cup in like, 5 minutes.