Coffee & Tea I drink a lot of drinks. Not alcoholic ones–the occasional cocktail or glass of wine doesn’t hurt–but caffeinated ones. I picked up the tea habit in NYC pulling long days and even longer nights. I started drinking everything UN-sweetened, which was unheard of for me in college. I also learned  “getting coffee” or “meeting up in the afternoon” with clients or friends usually meant it was happening over a beverage and a cute overpriced croissant or baked good. Well duh, you don’t plan to “get coffee” with someone and get something to drink. So drinking drinks also became a social thing. I would once complain about it being SO overpriced and overrated and something I could make at home, but here I am today, enjoying non-alcoholic drinks with friends just because. 

On a recent friend meet-up in North Park, we did just that. Meeting up for coffee, just because. Except coffee is still not an option for me (never will be) and I’m all about iced tea or chai tea lattes. We got these tall and short drinks at Coffee & Tea Collective, a place that is nothing short of “hip.” From the white painted brick wall, wood counter tops, stools, rebar and Edison bulbs, it’s hip on point. Seen a lot of these from New York to North Park and I think they are here to stay, for a while. Get familiar.

Greetings From San DiegoAs all tourist would (even though we’re not), we sought out the picture perfect postcard down the street. This photo of me looks pretty ridiculous (I have a number of friend who would agree), but hey, it’s very fitting for this time in my life. I’m back to a place where I lived the first time I left home. While I take a lot of pictures, there are some times I wish I got a picture of me at certain place. After all, “pic or it didn’t happen.”

img_0424Before my day was over, I had two more drinks. I forgot to take a picture of one, but this tea from Lofty Coffee was delish. That’s right, if you clicked the link you know Lofty is in Solana Beach, so I traveled far for this one. With a new sidekick, this lavender infused black tea really hit the spot. It’s supposed to be fall but SoCal doesn’t quite do it like the east coast does and it was pretty warm.

My last tea of the day, Thai Tea, was paired with pad see ew, from Bahn Thai in University Heights. I don’t really know how I ended up there with yet another friend, but we did. Friends and food go hand-in-and and this particular day was full of chatting, eating and drinking–tea. Sometimes it’s not about how good the coffee/tea/food is (although that’s the goal), but it’s about the company and throughout this day I totally scored.


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