If you like to hang out in Starbucks, I forgive you. It's a little better than McDonald's, unless you want a hamburger. (Actually, the coffee in McDonald's is better than the coffee in Starbucks. Try this before you tell me I'm crazy. Not that I'm not crazy...)

Latte Time owner Driss Assis works incredibly long hours, but he's always friendly. I don't know how he does it.

Another view of Latte Time

Coffee Hound is in an extremely cool restored old building. That's a 100-year-old tile floor. Steve and April not shown.

But coffee is the the juice of social change (see footnote.) Back in the 1600's, coffee houses were suspected of being hotbeds of anti-monarchy sentiment. Lloyd's of London got started in a coffee house. In the United States, coffee houses were where Lenny Bruce and John Kerouac freaked out the squares and laid the groovy foundation for the next generation of free-thinkers. Coffee deserves better than an imitation house spawned in some corporate hellhole.

Normal has two great coffee houses, Latte Time, and The Coffeehouse. Bloomington has one called Coffee Hound.

Latte Time is owned by Driss Assis, a former computer-network-guy from Morocco. He grew up with coffee - his family took coffee pretty seriously; and he's always experimenting. Try the House Latte and the Moroccan Tea! Latte Time is open late.

Latte Time has an open-mic night every Friday and currently there's a pianist who performs there on Thursday nights too. It's a great place to meet friends. They have wireless internet, too, which totally rocks, and there's a computer you can use to check your email or surf the web. They're right on Main Street between McDonald's and Baskin Robbins.

Coffee Hound at 407 n. Main St. in Bloomington is the creation of Steve and April Fritzen. It's located in a restored turn-of-the-century building. That's an original tin ceiling and tile floor you see in the picture. Steve's an artist and the decor is about as cool as you can imagine. They have Intelligentsia coffee intelligently made, and the result is excellent.

Unfortunately, Coffee Hound isn't usually open late, except on some Friday or Saturday nights when they have live music or an open mic, which is very cool. They have a computer you can use to check your email or surf the web, but they lack wireless internet. How about it, Hound? I'd spend more time there if I could do my online work from one of your tables.

I like The Coffeehouse, but to be honest, their coffee varies a lot in quality. Their atmosphere is first-rate subversive liberal feminist vegetarian pacifist hippie. They have live music, a huge menu of wonderful veggie items (I always go there to meet vegetarian friends) and a pastry cabinet that I really need to stay away from. The Coffeehouse also has wireless internet - they even sell wireless cards over the counter. Yet as cyber-cool as they are, they don't have a website - go figure. I'll get a picture of the place later.

Footnote:
In the 18 Dec. 2003 The Economist was an article called " The Internet In A Cup" which is a fascinating expo on the intellectual life of coffee shops from the 1600's through the present.

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