Primo Coffee

I wasted no time in my investigation and tonight I dragged my best friend Carla to check out Primo Coffee (Yes it does exist!) with me.

Something I forgot to mention in my criteria in looking for a coffee shop before is I would like there to be something unique and whimsical about the place I choose as my writing spot.

Based on this criteria, at first glance of Primo Coffee I was not impressed. There is the same traditional drinks, groovy lamps that hang from the ceiling, a couple cozy arm chairs and some wooden tables. I feel like it was made from a coffee shop cookie cutter.

Then I looked in their food case and saw their gigantic Primo muffins of all different sorts. The tops of them were so big that the muffins had to lay on their sides. So while the atmosphere here may be very provincial the food items were gourmet.

Also on my way out, I noticed they had plants growing on their windowsill, but not just in a traditional pot. There is actually a plant growing out of a leather boot. For some reason when I saw it I wondered if just maybe this is how Jack would've planted his beanstalk and points for Primo Coffee's uniqueness shot up.

I am not much of a coffee drinker and was planning on getting tea, but upon arrival they had a fantastic advertisement for a low-fat strawberry banana smoothie and I just had to get it. For a smoothie it was reasonably priced at $3.90 for a medium, not as cheap as I would like it to be...but hey for a bohemian artist (or anyone really) nothing ever is. It was delicious!

The comfy chairs here could be sat in for hours, especially while gazing into the flames of their crackling fireplace.

I did find I need to be patient with their free Wi-Fi because it is not as high speed as the highest speed internet I have at home, but if I'm coming here to get work done this may not always be such a bad thing.

It is quiet enough here. The music is not loud and disturbing, but has a beat to it that may just take me to far away land. I may not relate to the people here though. Everyone besides me and Carla either has gone gray in the hair or is bald. Not exactly in our five year post-graduate demographic, but no judgment, after all it is a Saturday night and our demographic may have more exciting things to do with their lives. At a different they may be here, in the meantime at least no one here is intimidating or disruptive.

All and all Primo Coffee is not too bad. I might have considered making it my spot except for one thing... the hours. I was very disappointed to get here at seven and discover the hours on the website were incorrect and this place is not open until 10pm or 11pm, but is only open until 8pm.

I will have to continue my search, however if I'm ever passing by here on my way home from the Ypsilanti Whittaker branch library I will not hesitate to stop for a smoothie or a muffin.

The Hunt Begins

That's right it's a hunt for my perfect place...and we're off! I accumulated a list of coffee houses that I plan to test as a writing spot. In making this list I made a few rules, which are listed at the bottom if you are interested, but for now I plan to visit each of these shops to see if any will help me become the writer I dream of becoming:

1. Primo Coffee House Does this place still exist?
2. The Ugly Mug
3. Perk and Brew I don't know if this place is still there either?
4. The Common Cup
5. Starbucks on Washtenaw Ypsilanti
   
6. Starbucks on Washtenaw Arborland
7. Starbucks on Carpenter
   
8. Espresso Royale
9. Biggby Coffee
10. The Coffee Lounge in Canton but I'm willing to give Cherry Hill a Chance
11. Beezy's
12. Harvest Moon Cafe
13. B-24's
14. Cafe Ollie
    

* Many of the places I found on the internet I know have gone out of business and so anything I found that I knew was out of business did not go on the list...duh, but some shops I think may be out of business, but I'm unsure did so we can see about them. I consider myself coffee house keen, since its more my scene than a bar is and some I have not heard of so I wonder if they are out of business or simply the best kept secret ever!
**There is no Bearclaw Coffee on my list because they are just stands.
***Most shops that were listed too far in Ann Arbor have been excluded because of the travel and parking effort.
****No Tim Hortons or Dunkin' Dounts because I have more class than that
*****Not in Canton or Plymouth since that is my hometown and I already know the perfect spot would be the Plymouth Coffee Bean which again has been excluded due to travel time
******Nothing on Eastern's Campus unless I am feeling nostalgic and writing/ re-living my college experience that day
*******Why not a library? Mostly because of hours and that would make writing seem more like work and like I said before, the purpose of this exercise is to make my writing an escape from my work...

Ideally, I would like to find a place that isn't corporate. I'd like to find a nice hipster privately owned by bohemians spot, but I am unsure this will happen given the hours I need the writing spot to be available to me and therefore places like Starbucks and Biggby still remain on the list.