Tisk Tisk Black Rock....

Ahhh... Another Sunday yoga session with my bestie Susan always calls for a coffee pit stop in celebration for completing our fitness goals for the week.

After spending the better part of five years hopelessly addicted to Starbucks, we recently decided to expand our horizons ( due to increasingly poor quality and rising prices). We chose Black Rock Coffee as our new coffee go to. It's been about a month since I started patronizing this small, local establishment. I've been very happy with it for the most part. I like that I have my silly little punch card and, as so many others, get overjoyed when my hard work has finally paid off and I have "earned" my free beverage.

Sure, I've had the random long or short pulled espresso shot, but as a former barista and coffee stand owner, I can look past it and chalk it up to mechanical malfunctions. What I can't look past is plain ol' stupidity. (Sorry , just being frank).  Today's visit was chalked full of plain ol' stupidity.. and I'm not over it, so I'm venting!

Alright, without risking boring all of you and writing a novel I'll cut to the chase. Around 11am, Susan and I, feeling glorious from our two hours of power, went on a mission to obtain some liquid energy at Black Rock Coffee Bar. Being the creatures of habit that we are, our order consisted of the usual 16oz Skinny Pumpkin Spiced Chai Latte and a 16oz Skinny Carmel Blondie. I could tell instantly that this was going to be interesting. Our barista,though very cute and sweet, seemed to be "out to lunch" to put it nicely. I gave her our order as she was staring past my car at, what I can only assume was Bigfoot doing a wheelie in the empty parking lot next door. After a minute or so, she started to do what great coffee artists do and got to making our coffee.


So by this point, things seem to be going smoothly. The Barista passed our drinks to us and gave me my total of $6. I told her I had my freebie, and passed her my card- no biggy. It seemed to be taking a while for her to get the process done, actually it was a good three minutes before she turned to me and said " Oh, wait! The last guy through left his free drink card for the next person! I totally forgot! You don't owe anything!"  I was thrilled to say the least, I thanked her and told her I need to pay that forward. She passed me my debit card, and I drove away.

 Pretty cool huh? I scored an extra freebie today and was feeling pretty good about it! UNTIL..... I checked my account as I normally do on Sundays only to find that I was not just charged for one drink, but both drinks. Now I don't exactly mind being charged for one of those drinks, as I only had "earned" one of the freebies, but I was hosed out of MY free drink, not to mention I was hosed out of my free drink card! And I was told that I was graciously given a "karma freebie" by the previous gentleman through :(  Hmmm.. maybe karma is after me???

I guess I wouldn't be so ticked off about it if the coffee was the best I'd ever had, but in all honesty, my drink was grainy and had that scorched milk taste. I can't speak for Ms. Susan, she seemed to enjoy hers. Maybe "sweet and cute" aren't exactly the ideal attributes of a good coffee artist? Who knows....

What I do know, is that I want my freebie! lol! And to earn karma points, I will pay for the person behind me when I visit again.. Yes, I will visit again, I do believe they have pretty good coffee, and their prices are great. The service has always been great, so I will assume this was an "off day".. in the world of coffee art.

As usual friends, there is a moral to this story :

 For the Barista: PAY ATTENTION! YOU NEVER KNOW WHEN YOU WILL SCORN THE WRONG COFFEE ADDICT!

For the consumer: PAY ATTENTION! And don't be to judgemental ;) Believe in second chances :)

If you have a chance and a hankering for coffee, keep your money local and give them a try. Black Rock Coffee Bar is located at:

1975 Biddle Rd.  Medford.

Hours: Mon-Fri 5am-9pm
            Sat- Sun 6am-9pm

http://www.blackrockcoffeebar.com/biddle_rd