Star Lounge Cafe

I was thinking about the Places that get no LTH Love thread, and maybe this is detrimental to no longer being my secret love, but I figure LTH deserves to know, so go Star Lounge Cafe, in case you haven't been. It's a small coffee shop out in — I guess that's considered the clusterfuck of Ukrainian Village/West Town/Humboldt Park. Anyway, really great cafe with outdoor seating, kind baristas, free wi-fi and most important: the coffee is certifiably the bomb.

Nice part? When you order a cup of coffee, they'll make you a single brew fresh ground from any one of their coffees — same for iced coffee. They roast their beans in Bridgeport and do a lot of testing with blends. I loved the Brazilian and Costa Rican blends (then again, I'm kind of a sucker for those bold medium blends), but if you ask, they're really friendly and knowledgeable about all their coffees. ALSO, significantly cheaper than Intelligensia, no real wait and they get their pastries from Alliance.

Star Lounge Cafe
2521 W Chicago Ave
Chicago, IL 60622-4516
(773) 384-7827
http://www.starloungecoffee.com

Yes this place rocks. A friend of mine took me there and I had a cup of coffee and a shot of espresso made from the same beans. It was a really cool thing as they tasted so different. I would have guessed that the espresso would be just more intense than the coffee but there were very different flavors. Boy was I dangerously over-caffeinated.

The staff takes coffee very seriously. It's great to see that level of intensity.

Toby