I am so happy that I've always lived somewhere with great coffee shops.

Spyhouse Coffee Roasting Company has three cozy locations around Minneapolis. Rob and I have managed to visit each one over the past two weeks. Our favorite is the one on Broadway, but these photos were taken at the one on Nicolette. 

They're all awesome, and they all have almond milk! It's not homemade, but it is delicious and they steam it perfectly to compliment their amazing espresso. I'm usually a black coffee/espresso/plain latte drinker, but they have a menu of creative specialty drinks that I had to try something different the first two times I went. I've had The Spygirl, which is a latte with honey and lavender syrup; and the Mexican Mocha, which is spicy and chocolaty and delicious.

I love coffee, and I especially love being able to get a dairy-free latte that isn't with soy milk. Spyhouse, you're awesome!

Spyhouse Coffeeshops

2451 Nicollet Ave

Minneapolis, MN 55404

945 Broadway St NE
Minneapolis, MN 55413

2404 Hennepin Avenue

Minneapolis, MN 55405

Food (Coffee) 5/5

Service 4/5

Atmosphere 5/5

Prices & Specials 3/5

Paleo-Friendly 4.5/5

Any other coffee-shop recommendations for me here in Minneapolis?

Maybe this seems silly, or maybe it seems like it's not actually a thing, but it's totally a thing, at least in my house. We have tea in the afternoons. I absolutely love having a fancy little tea party at home with my mom or one of my girlfriends.

Giving up milk was really hard for me at first, because I was both an avid latte and tea-with-sugar-and-cream drinker. Black tea and black coffee just didn't do it for me at first, but after a little bit of training and a whole lot of time and commitment and espresso shots, I was fine with it.

The trick to changing a habit is to make the new habit really special. I do that with my mom's beautiful bone china tea set and really good local honey. And then one day I discovered So Delicious' Coconut Milk Creamer, and it was like the part of me that used to love milk had died and finally made it to dairy-free heaven.

YOU WILL NEED

+ tea

(lately I've been loving this vanilla rooibos)

+ coconut milk

(get the kind that comes in a little carton like half & half)

+ local honey

(we get ours at the Roanoke Natural Foods Co-Op)

+ a Paleo treat or two (try these cookies)

  

It's pretty simple. But it can totally make your day better.

Who wants to come over for a cup?

[Reflection of Downtown Roanoke in my coffee, taken December 2011]

It's almost nine this morning and I am just waking up with a raging caffeine headache. One of the owners of the coffee shop is out of the country for a month, and they need me to close instead of open on Fridays while he's gone. I was looking forward to sleeping in a little bit, but missing my 7:00 tea and 8:30 espresso really is taking its toll on my body. 

You know, withdrawal.

So now I'm sitting with my computer in my favorite chair--it's all asymmetrical and artsy--waiting for espresso to brew on the stove. It looks freezing outside, my head is pounding, Rob is still asleep in our warm bed, there are episodes of LOST to be watched and I also just started a new book that has nothing to do with my thesis but has me hooked and I really just can't put it down. I'd rather not go to work this afternoon. It sort of feels like Saturday.

Rob got home from his trip to Portland yesterday and I felt kind of bad, but immediately went out to go running with Shawna. But we still had all afternoon to hang around, then I made dinner and Shawna came back over and we all watched a movie and polished off a bottle of wine. It feels really nice to get back into running. Yesterday was really warm and it smelled like spring and it made me want to drive to Farmville and visit my professors at Longwood and then walk around Hampden-Sydney. I might actually do that the next time it gets unseasonably warm. Or I can wait for real spring.

It doesn't take a lot to make me miss college.

So that's what you get when I'm home on a weekday morning instead of at the coffee shop. My thoughts, scattered as they may be, as they work their way out of this caffeine-addicted brain.

Have a really happy weekend, friends.