I am back and blogging after my brief hiatus.  In case you were wondering, no, I did not forget I had a blog.  I've been stateside and engaging in all sort of interesting adventures in Colorado, which will have their own posts in due time.  

First, here is the follow-up post to the best coffee shops in London and Reykjavik, featuring the best coffee shops in Colorado Springs.  I realize that you might not think of Colorado Springs as a coffee destination, but after this, you might want to consider adding it to your list!  

Colorado Springs is where I transitioned from only drinking coffee if it was in the form of a sugar-laden Starbucks to the art of proper coffee.  Here are my top seven coffee shops, along with recommendations for the first four.

1) The Principal's Office at Ivywild School
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The Ivywild is a former elementary school that has been converted into a community gathering space.  In addition to the coffee shop at the Principal's Office, there is a bakery, a brewery, gardens, a market, and a craft store.  In my opinion, this is the best coffee in the Springs and also a great place for both conversing with friends or working with a laptop. Recommendation: soy maple latte

2) Agia Sophia in Old Colorado City

I used to work just down the road from Agia Sophia so I frequented here for coffee and lunch. A sure way to get my attention is to label a bookshelf, "C.S. Lewis and Friends," which is exactly what Agia Sophia does!  If not getting something for takeaway, I enjoy their selection of books.  Recommendation: almond milk latte and a vegan wrap

3) Mountain Mama at Uintah

Mountain Mama isn't just a place for coffee, it has a cafe and an entire health foods store with it as well.  Recommendation: almond milk mocha with peanut butter syrup 

4) Jive's Coffee Lounge Old Colorado City and  Nevada

With two locations, one near my former workplace and the other near my former college, there was a time when I frequently visited both locations.  They both have a nice ambiance with interesting decorations.  Recommendation: soy Zebra Mocha

5) Black Bear Coffee

The interior of Black Bear epitomizes a woodsy, Colorado coffee shop. 

​6) Rico's Cafe at Poor Richard's 

Poor Richard's is a used book store, coffee shop, toy store, and restaurant all wrapped into one downtown location!  I've bought many books here and met numerous friends at the coffee shop.  

7) Montague's 

Though I meant to visit here for years, I only visited recently.  It was an adorable little place and worth the visit!


Check back soon for more of my adventures in Colorado!  Plus, I have some exciting adventures planned!

Reykjavik may be tiny, but it knows a thing or two about coffee.  A follow-up to my London coffee guide, here are my top four favourite coffee shops in Iceland.

I affectionately refer to Reykjavik Roasters as the "English-speaking expat" coffee shop. Most of the workers are either British (see here) , American, Australian (mark of a good coffee shop!), or Canadian.  Perhaps for this reason, it seems to attract a large number of expats or tourists from those countries. For those of us who avoid dairy milk after an unfortunate incident with Baby Brown Swiss Dairy Cows (or who are, you know, just allergic to dairy or vegan), they offer soya milk or oat milk.

If you're an American and want to act very American as soon as the weather peaks at 50 degrees Fahrenheit (that's 10 degrees Celsius for those of you who hail from any other country on the planet), you can order an iced latte.  Though, I offer a word of caution: what you think are chocolate shavings next to the sugar is actually cinnamon.  Not that I know from personally dumping a bunch in my latte and then choking on too much cinnamon, I'm just hypothetically speaking here.  However, an American couple came in just after the unfortunate cinnamon incident and asked if they could pay with US coins. Sorry fellow Americans.  We were struggling to look intelligent that day! 

 C is for Cookie often makes lists of Reykjavik's top vegetarian/vegan dining establishments (I'm currently working on my own list) and with various vegan options, including carrot cake, it is easy to see why.  They also have free Wi Fi, which is always nice! Oh, and yes, that is electrical tape on my poor laptop.  It has been through a lot. 

This is the only one featured that is not downtown.  This means that the crowds are nearly all locals and everything is in Icelandic.  Everyone working seems to speak fluent English though.  They have both soya and coconut milk and a variety of vegan options, including vegan chocolate croissants, pictured above.  A couple of visiting Americans showed me this shop and I've been back at least once of a week ever since then!

Located right on Laugavegur, KaffiBrennslan has longer opening hours than the other coffee shops listed.  It is popular with tourists, but has an upstairs area that is quiet enough for knitting or blogging.  In additional to coffee, they have a soya chai.  

Am I missing your favourite Reykjavik coffee shop?  Comment below to let me know what it is!