Its coffee time in The Hammer, Part 2

My coffee tour of Hamilton continues. Although the last time I wrote about this I had scarcely ventured outside of the Locke Street Starbucks (which I enjoy, by the way), I am now slightly more versed on the java options available in The Hammer.

One of our most recent destinations was the Mulberry Street Coffee House - which hubby and I visited one Sunday afternoon after a particularly long open-house visiting session. It is housed in a beautiful building, with photography exhibited on the walls, eclectic, not your run of the mill chain and people were sitting and chatting, enjoying the atmosphere on a laid-back afternoon. We ordered and sat down to do the same.

I will caveat my comments about our trip to Mulberry with a bit of honesty. While we really did enjoy it, we did feel that perhaps we didn't exactly fit in here - it reminded us a lot of some of the artsy coffee houses in Toronto and us being a) not in our 20s anymore and b) not artists/photographers/crafty people and c) not overtly eclectic, we felt that we may have stuck out as being a bit plain and boring! lol. :) Having said that, I'm sure we will go back. It seems like a great addition to the James St. N neighbourhood. To move away from the atmosphere for a second, we enjoyed our coffee, but found the food to be a tad on the expensive side here as well.

Perhaps my favourite new coffee find was Locke St Bakery & Bagel. I decided to give this place a go one afternoon when I was looking to get some writing done outside of the house. It turned out to be a wonderful place to sit and get work done - the coffee & tea were great (and the cookies), the staff are extremely friendly, and they have wi-fi! (also, after the lunch rush finishes, its not too busy).

I've also been to P.A.M.'s in Jackson Square - the coffee was good, but I didn't stay long enough to get any work done there, so can't comment too much on the atmosphere.

Of course, none of these places are walking distance from where we're living at the moment. It does seem that this may not be a concern for much longer (and not just because we're looking to move soon!) I hear on Twitter that a coffee house is on its way to Ottawa Street this summer!

Its coffee time! But where should I go...

The part of Hamilton that we're calling home for the time-being (while we explore different neighbourhoods and consider our home-buying options) is not too far from the First Tim Horton's Ever.

Wow, exciting, right? This Canadian institution started just around the corner from where we live!

Needless to say, we've paid this landmark a visit. While this is kind of cool, I feel that it points to an alarming trend in The Hammer - many, many, many Tim Hortons and not too much else for the coffee lover. (I've even seen a gas station with a Tim's in it, next to a real Tim's...I mean, come on!)

Don't get me wrong - I love Timmies (doughnuts, sandwiches, coffee) but 1) as an avid coffee consumer and 2) a freelance writer who sometimes needs a break from the home office, I place great importance on both the taste of the coffee and the atmosphere of the coffee house. Lets face it - you can't work in Tims for hours like you can in some other coffee places (I think many of them have a 20-30 minute limit) and (as far as I know) they don't have wifi!

Since our arrival in Hamilton, something we noticed pretty much right off the bat was the lack of comfortable coffee spots(at least in the part of the city we live in). No nice coffee pubs to walk to - Tim Hortons and McD's being the only caffeine options nearby. Being sans-car most of the week, I've been pretty keen to find any nearby options that are available.

Putting the "walking distance" factor aside for a moment, my very first "real" non-Tim's coffee find in The Hammer was the welcome (but predictable) Starbucks on Locke Street - great atmosphere, has the wifi I need, but its the only Starbucks for miles. And its always full - which leads me to conclude that Hamilton is crying out for more Starbucks or similar!

On Family Day, we were in exploring-mode, so we decided to take a trip out to the Hamilton waterfront. I'll save my thoughts on the waterfront for another post (mainly because I want to compare what we saw in the winter to how it looks in the summertime!)

What I will talk about now, is the Williams Fresh Cafe. The place was humming (probably because it was Family Day). What stood out for me, however, was the atmosphere. Comfy, fireplace, wifi, decent view - the kind of place you could linger, write, catch up with friends, etc.. The only problem is, yep, you guessed it - its far away from where most people live (including me)- its really a haven for those with car access.

I also attended a really nice get-together with a group of Hamilton tweeters at Coffee Culture in Ancaster - this place was great (can't comment on the coffee too much, I had decaf!) but too far from me for regular visits.

Keep in mind - these are just my observations so far as a new Hamiltonian (I'm sure there are a few gems I have yet to find!) For example, I've heard from several people on Twitter that there are other great coffee options on Locke Street - namely the Locke Street Bakery. Can't wait to try it out. Also, Red Hill Coffee, Mulberry House on James St. and Free Trade in Westdale. I'm also purposely not mentioning anything on the mountain because a) we haven't tried any new places there (except Tim's) and b) its far from our place.

I'm going to put it out there right now - the East End of Hamilton needs more coffee houses (or at least one!) Either that, or we're going to have to move :) (or perhaps get another car? I'm trying to avoid that option.)

What are your suggestions around Hamilton for great coffee & atmosphere?