the quest for cocoa

On alternate Tuesday afternoons, we have the house cleaned professionally because we are just not very good at doing it ourselves. It's difficult to work from home with a vacuum cleaner running in the background, so I usually find somewhere else to work for a few hours, or run errands.

Fortunately, Austin is the land of bountiful free wireless. So many choices are available that I could work at a different place each time ... and I pretty much have, because none has proved to be ideal.

Most places that offer free wireless are coffeehouses. (Alamo offers it, but I doubt I could work in a movie theater while something interesting played onscreen. Although this might well be worth testing someday.) If you're going to work in the coffeehouse for awhile, of course you want to buy something (as well as tipping nicely). The obvious choice would be coffee.

Only I can't drink coffee. I love coffee, but let's just say we don't get along well. It's not just the caffeine, which I am supposed to be avoiding generally; decaf coffee is also problematic. This is a shame, because a regular plain old coffee is usually the cheapest item in a coffeehouse bill of fare.

Usually I order iced tea or hot cocoa. Iced tea can have a surprising amount of caffeine, so that's not usually my first choice. Also, some coffeehouses do strange things to iced tea and you don't always realize it until you have a sip and can taste the mango goodness. Hot tea isn't a bad choice, but again it's usually too caffeinated and they don't have decaf black tea (and I can't stand most herbal teas).

So I order cocoa as a rule. And I am here to tell you that most coffeehouse-made hot cocoas in north Austin suck. They can cost a lot more than coffee, and I understand this because they require more effort to make, but you'd think that they would at least taste like chocolate. Most reek of overboiled milk, or have chunks of instant cocoa powder clinging to the sides of the cup.

Since I started working in coffeehouses, the only decent cocoa I've found (outside of the delicious Ghirardelli cocoa prepared in my own lovely home) has been at Flipnotics, down south. It wasn't cheap but it was certainly tasty.

It's a shame, because I will try a new place and be so frustrated about the cocoa that I don't want to return even if it's a pretty good workspace. Scooter's (formerly Trianon) is a quiet place to work, not far from the house, but their cocoa is stinky. I mean, it smells off, and I've had it more than once, so it wasn't a fluke. I like working at Genuine Joe's when I can get one of the few good workspaces and when others aren't chattering nearby on the phone. (Apologizing afterward does not excuse you.) La Madeleine has some yummy pastries, but I can't have hot chocolate with them anymore because it had a complete and utter absence of any chocolate taste whatsoever. I got so pissed by the non-chocolate hot cocoa at Einstein Bros. one weekend that I took it back and asked for them to put in more chocolate (which they did ... and didn't spit in it, either).

Now I am in Texpresso, which I decided to try now that it is non-smoking. It's so close to the house that it would be my first choice in terms of location. The wireless seems to be working quite well. However, the regulars seem to like to engage in political conversations around the counter, so if I come here again, I'll have to see if the wireless works on the back patio. (Someone who may be the owner or manager is ranting about the anti-smoking ordinance now. Yay.) And then ... there's the cocoa. It looked so pretty with its whipped-cream topping, and it cost $2.50. And it wasn't too bad, but it was milky and faintly mocha-ish with only the vaguest hint of chocolate. I doubt I'll order one again, and will have to rely on the iced tea next time.

We went to San Francisco last year, and one of the great hidden glories of that city is that they understand how to make hot cocoa. We went to a number of coffeehouses to check email or just to relax after wandering the streets, and I always ordered cocoa. Every time, it was a wonderful chocolate-filled treat. That's why it's called hot chocolate, not hot milk. Now what are they doing that Austin coffeehouses don't understand? As soon as someone in Austin figures it out, let me know and I'll go to your coffeehouse every other Tuesday, laptop in hand, ready to swoon over the rare brew.

The Dairy Queen by our house has wireless. Next time I need to work remotely, I may see if a chocolate-fudge blizzard works well with laptop use.

Posted at February 7, 2006 03:37 PM