Intelligentsia Coffee
I just remembered a café which offered me a cup of good iced latte in Chicago.
That was Intelligentsia Coffee.
I didn't know that it was famous for the third wave coffee. On that day I really wanted to get coffee from local cafes (not like Starbucks or Dunkin Donuts, you know) so just searched places around downtown Chicago and Intelligentsia was on the top of the list, so I went there.
It was not a big space but the ambience was really good.
Not too many tables and chairs, that means not too many people. Tokyo should be this.
And, I fell in love with the sign.
LOVE & "B" L😊VED
Actually, I went there in May, 2016. Now it's January in 2017.
The reason I remembered this café even after 7 months is that the coffee beans from Intelligentsia were used Mr. Holmes Bakehouse in Seoul, South Korea, where I visited to eat cruffin in December.
Cruffin & coffee in Mr. Holmes Bakehouse in Seoul
They put a logo of Intelligentsia by the espresso machine(I didn't take a picture of that) and I thought I had seen this logo somewhere else before. When I found out it was in Chicago, I told my friend about it like I solved a difficult math question lol Of course she had no idea why it is so surprising, and said へぇ～ (it means like "...Well, okay.")
34, Apgujeong-ro 10-gil, Gangnam-gu, Seoul
Iced latte was very good! I don't like latte which makes me feel like taste of milk still remains in my mouth after swallowing. (Does it make sense? It's really hard to tell) But this latte was not at all.
In order to write this post, I searched Intelligentsia and got information about it.
As I already said, it is famous for third wave coffee. It was started from Chicago and now they offer good coffee in Los Angeles and New York. Especially, Venice location is very popular because it's on the Abbot Kinney Blvd and inside of the café is really cool.
I thought it was originally from LA and then came to Chicago to expand their own business to the Midwest.
Mr. Holmes Bakehouse in LA also offers Intelligentsia's coffee same as in Korea.
It seems like they make partnership these days, you will get cruffin and croissant at Intelligentsia in the morning.
I have to go back to the States to visit there again.
So see you then!
・Intelligentsia Coffee
Millennium Park Coffeebar
53 East Randolph St. Chicago, Illinois 60601
