Newhall Coffee

Recently while at Costco, we tried some samples of Newhall Coffee, a local micro-roaster. They were sooo good we had to pick up a couple bags. We got their Hawaiian Hazelnut Decaf, which tastes as good as it smells, and the Newhall blend. Both are excellent. Highly recommended.

The Baker

http://www.thebakerbread.com/

We tried this place a while after it opened and have been coming back ever since. I'll be there sometimes 2-3 times a week for lunch during the weekdays and brunch on weekends.

The breads are all fresh, really great. On weekends they make a special walnut raisin bread that is goes pretty quickly.

They also have excellent coffee too. :)

The staff is very quick and attentive. During lunch and breakfast prime-times you may have trouble finding a place to park. There are metered spots on Ventura Blvd if you can't get in the lot.

Studying Starbucks

LONDON - A cup of coffee is just a drink. But a frappuccino is an experience. So believes Bryant Simon, a historian who is searching for the meaning of modern life amid the round tables and comfy sofas of Starbucks coffee shops.

Simon, who teaches at Philadelphia's Temple University, thinks that by spending time at Starbucks — observing the teenage couples and solitary laptop-users, the hurried office workers and busy baristas — he can learn what it means to live and consume in the age of globalization.

"What are we drinking, and what does it say about who we are?" Simon asked during a recent research trip to London.

His research has taken him to 300 Starbucks in six countries for a caffeine-fueled opus titled "Consuming Starbucks" that's due for publication in 2008. He is one of several academics studying a type of 21st century cafe culture — Italian coffee in an American package — that has spread rapidly around the world.

Read the rest of the article on Yahoo News.