Spotlight: Zumes

I intern in an adorable area of Charlestown - old buildings, active neighbors, and one of the cutest coffee shops I've ever been to.

Zumes (pronounced Zume-eez and named after the owner's dog) is a quintessential neighborhood coffee shop - the kind of place where people come at the same time every day, spend their afternoons inside working on laptops or watching their children, and everyone knows each other. It's got a great atmosphere - makes me want to be one of the regulars, where I come in and they start making my drink for me before I even order - just because it's that kind of place.

And they make a killer raspberry mocha. Hot. Iced. Anything. And their sandwiches and bars are great, too. It may actually be a little more expensive than Starbucks, but the quality is worth it (and I love Starbucks). Plus, the free wi-fi is great for working from the coffee shop instead of the office!

Zumes is located on 233 Main Street in Charlestown, check it out!

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Starting slow

My roommate and I just started season 2 of Desperate Housewives, and Bree starts one of the episodes by saying that there are 2 types of people in the world: the ones who are useless before their first cup of coffee, and the ones who aren't. I've never been a big coffee person - love the smell, hate the taste, never saw a purpose for it. But, for some reason, I just want to like coffee. Really badly.

So that's my project: I'm training myself to like coffee. Everyone else bemoans their caffeine addictions, but I secretly want to see what it's like (I guess not so secretly anymore). So as of now, I'm on the bean. Starting at day one with my raspberry mochas - sweet, chocolate-y, with a hint of raspberry and basically no coffee taste... and working my way up. One day soon: plain black coffee!