Philz Coffee

Anna and I took some time off from studying (me for the driver's license knowledge test; her for the NCLEX) because it's July 4th. We took the BART to Rockridge, a district in Oakland. As we were walking, we realised that many of the shops were closed! Of course, it's a holiday so everyone's not at work! There were only a handful of places open but we hadn't worked up our appetites yet, so we walked further down the road until the temperature dipped below 20ºC. 

That's when we opted to stop by one of the places Anna frequents: Philz Coffee. The interior of the café is similar with the other coffee shops we've already been to: a mix of rich wooden browns give a warmth to the otherwise cold ambiance lent by the black and the greys of the steel and the cement. But what made this particular branch interesting were the light fixtures: instead of the retro globe-like light bulbs that has become the norm (like in Siento Café), Philz used the long lamps and arranged them in a crisscross manner. 

The menu is also helpful for people who couldn't decide what to drink. Instead of just the name of the drink, the menu includes descriptions of the shop's offerings. For instance, lighter blends have fruity profiles; the medium blends have more of the sweet aromatic caramel tones; and the darker blends emphasise the scents of heavy spices and smoke. 

I don't like coffee, though, so I opted for iced chocolate... yes, despite the cold! 

Because the store was closing, Anna and I ended up sipping our iced beverages outside. It reminded me of eating lunch outdoors in UQ in winter; it was cold, sunny, and there were a lot of pigeons around. But this was an unexpectedly cold summer evening in Rockridge, hence we decided to walk around a bit more. I guess I still need to get acclimatised with this weather.