Ahh heavenly coffee, the third member in the holy trinity of vices

The priority is as follows: booze-to-the-food-to-the-coffee. (Notice that food is sandwiched in there like the creamy filling of an Oreo cookie, it’s a necessary part of the equation.)

Occasionally you can get away with combining the booze and the coffee – Irish coffee for example, but traditionally nothing brings home the warm fuzzies the day after like a good strong cup of joe. And for me, the best kind of coffee is caffe mocha, like a gallon of it. Injected right into my veins.

Now, I’m not a Starbucks hater, and historically when given a choice I’d hit the Starbucks over the mom and pop show just because I knew what I’d be getting. I guess when it comes to my coffee I don’t like to be surprised. But since moving to Key West and deciding to search for a life of freedom from ‘the man’, I’m opening up to the understanding that things can be better on the other side. Way better.

Coffee Plantation sits on caroline Street, just stumbling distance from Schooner Wharf and the Historic Key West Marina. It’s housed in a cool old Conch house built in the 1890′s. The porch holds a few comfy wicker chairs and tables. The inside is very inviting.. the smell of coffee.. sweet, sweet  coffee, lots of cool old antiques sitting on cool old tables, chairs, and couches.

There’s a back corner where they have some computers set up to rent for 20 cents a minute. You can also bring in your own laptop and the wireless is free with any purchase. I could definitely see myself sitting in here quaffing gallons of coffee blogging my day away.

All of this coolness would be for naught if the coffee wasn’t great. And it is.. it’s it’s nice and strong.  Not Cuban strong, but respectably strong nonetheless. Christina got a normal coffee and commented that it was better than a couple of the other coffee shops in town – that it wasn’t quite as strong. She doesn’t like super strong coffee like I do, but I thought the coffee here seemed just right. I’m going to have to check out those other places now to see how strong is too strong!

My Caffe Mocha was super yummy, perhaps a tad on the sweet side for me, but I’m sure that’s something I can rectify next time with a request for a bit less syrup.

We tried sitting out on the porch, but the morning sun was careening right out of outer space, and burning holes in my retinas, so we moved our operation inside.

We situated ourselves on a couple of comfy wicker chairs, and commenced chugging. There are all sorts of books and newspapers lying about to thumb through, and the walls are covered in knick-knacks and local art. The furniture is eclectic and comfy, the clientele is kitschy blend of locals and touristas.

Christina ordered a strawberry croissant, it looked really good, and judging by the way she guarded it from me, it was. There’s quite a selection of yummy-looking breakfast munchies at the counter; croissants, muffins, fruit parfaits, etc. And they sell bags of their fabulous coffee and some implements of coffee construction as well.

All in all I love it. I look forward to heading back and quaffing more of the yummy coffee! Visit the Coffee Plantation website for more info, and some amusing and interesting blog posts from the owners. They sound like an interesting bunch, I look forward to running into them some day.