Coffeeshop superlatives

With less than two weeks remaining until we move away from our home of the last 2.5 years, join me on this brief departure from the grief of goodbyes. This is likely interesting to very few readers out there, but I've become a real fan of coffee shops since moving to the Springs, what with all the different options. Since we millennials are killing off chain stores and supporting a genuine movement toward local food, artisan craftsmanship, and small business, the coffee shop industry seems to be booming. What a time to be alive.

Anyway, I've formed a mental list of favorites over the years. Here's an annotated version; you know, for posterity.

• Best neighborhood coffee shop: Rosco's Coffee. Rosco is a real live donkey whose face is emblazoned on the outside of this house-converted-to-coffee-shop. Occasionally Rosco comes to visit and stands outside on the corner of Bijou and Walnut where passersby can pet him. The coffee itself shop is exactly as whimsical as you'd expect. If the downtown coffee shops are the equivalent of a trendy hipster with a man bun, downtown-adjacent Rosco's is his eccentric but lovable cousin who's always carrying around a weird piece of modern art.
• Best non-coffee drinks: Morning Glory Espresso. My personal favorite is the London Fog, but the Goddess is also amazing. (Also, this place is a close second for best neighborhood coffee shop; I only picked Rosco's for that category because it's in my neighborhood. When I was teaching sectionals at Watson Junior High last spring, I would have a few hours' break between morning and afternoon classes, and it wasn't worth driving home, so I would sit in MoGlo and work on homework. The people there were so friendly and chatty it was problematic for my work, but it was so charming it didn't bother me.)
• Best study spot: Starbucks on Garden of the Gods. I'm not a big Starbucks person, but this place was sometimes worth my while. Large enough to be anonymous and always have an open table near an outlet; busy enough that the chatter forms a pleasant white noise without any one conversation breaking through to be distracting.
• Best tea selection: Bella's/The Coffee Exchange. I'm a fan of the Red Rocks blend (rooibos with almond and coconut).
• Most likely to be full for no reason whatsoever: The Starbucks on the corner of Tejon and Bijou. It's always packed in there, despite the facts that it's Starbucks and there's literally another Starbucks one block down the same street.
• Best quiet atmosphere: Agia Sophia, top floor. There are always people up there, but other than the very faint strains of classical music playing, it's the kind of place where even "hushed tones" feels like a little much. (Another thing I like about this place is that the tea is served in pots, and if you ask for cream, you get your own tiny pitcher of it. This means you get a lot of tea, ultimate control over the tea/cream ratio, and you don't have to keep walking back and forth from the cream-and-sugar station.)
• Best price: The Perk Downtown. $2 for any size tea. Any place that doesn't try to charge more for extra hot water is a winner in my book.
• Best place to take yourself out on a date: Rico's at Poor Richard's Downtown. I've been known to hit up this cozy spot occasionally when D has evening meetings at church. It's hip and trendy, but lots of people go there and hang out alone, so you don't feel like a loser. Plus you get to browse the attached bookstore afterward.

And there you have it: a highly esoteric foray into the coffee shops in my life. As my grandma always says, you get what you paid for it.