Ancho Mex Latte @ Blue Horse Coffee

01/28/12 #236 8m

School activities provided me the opportunity to drop my Daughter off at Seton-LaSalle high school for an activity, and then pick her up a couple of hours later, so I saw it as a chance to ride around Dormont and Mt. Lebanon, which are places I'm not very familiar with.

I was pleased to see a Pamela's P&G Diner where I took the photo above, and although I expected to meet somebody that resembled Lovie and Thurston Howell I didn't see anybody like that.

Today's coffeeneuring destination was Blue Horse Coffee at 1535 Washington Road, somewhat across the street from the Galleria. I mean, any coffee shop that ends its "About Us" message with an exhortation to "ride the day" is a place worth checking out.

I asked the folks behind the counter to recommend a drink that might be considered the shop's specialty, and they quickly suggested an Ancho (AHN-choh) Mex latte, saying it was a mixture of coffee, chocolate and chile powder. I've never developed an appreciation of chile peppers, but her enthusiastic recommendation persuaded me and I'm glad I tried it.

The ancho chile latte was a strong taste and a very pleasant surprise - a mix of Mexican cocoa, ancho chile powder and espresso. This was a very effective bike-ride drink on a cold and somewhat gray morning.

The shop had a good selection of pastries, Wifi, and a very nice seating arrangement. It was certainly bike friendly, you could leave your bike on the patio and have it in sight from every seat in the house.

The clientele seemed to skew somewhat older/richer than I usually see, but that's the local demographic; the shop certainly seemed open to all. I'll definitely stop there again.

Back on the road, there wasn't much in the way of a usable shoulder and the local drivers didn't seem very familiar with bikes in traffic, but they certainly made room. My standing rule about being circumspect about riding to places with names like South Hills and/or Mount Lebanon was validated by the local topography.

This was certainly my shortest ride of the year (SROTY) at 8 miles, but it was what the situation permitted. It was great to be able to enjoy the time that I otherwise would have spent in the car listening to NPR.

		1/28/12 Week 4    this week: 83 miles		1st Qtr 251 miles 9 mi/dayQTR		2012: 251 miles
		Weight: Sun:234 Sat:236 Trend: BAD