Crema Dilemma

I was so excited. I finally had a reason to visit CREMA Coffee this morning. I've heard so many delicious things about it, follow them on Twitter, and have wanted to taste it out for myself. As it's located Downtown (where 1st Ave. becomes Hermitage Ave.), I don't often has a reason to stop in. But when I went to see my 2nd Ave. dentist bright and early on a Monday, I thought a Crema treat was in order.

Tucked away in a small building with an even smaller parking lot, the shop faces the river and has added a patio for java-sippin' and boat-watchin'. Looked pretty fantastic as I drove by scouting out a parking space on the busy avenue. Imagine my disgust when the giant food-delivery truck was blocking the entire parking lot and the only space left was handicapped. (I am an ardent parking rule-follower, fearful that as soon as I leave my car parked in handicapped for <10 minutes, I'd end up with a ticket.)

Disappointed, I kept driving. My next thought: Casablanca Coffee in The Gulch. I had recently purchased a Groupon for this place, so I figured today was as good as any. Unfortunately, I was on the wrong side of 12th for street parking and seeing as how it was mid-morning and I was getting desperate for my daily dose of caffeine (and I probably needed to get to work), I kept driving, vowing to come back and spend my Groupon some other day.

In the end, I ended up (not surprisingly) at Frothy Monkey, figuring I was already on 12th South anyway and it was directly between my current location and my office. I opted for my standard non-fat au lait and a sinfully delicious peanut butter & chocolate chip muffin that they referred to as "breakfast". It did a number on my nicely cleaned teeth but was definitely a great mid-morning snack.

Maybe a Saturday morning would be a better time to try Crema. Has anyone tried Casablanca yet? Thoughts you'd like to share?