St. Pete, FL

Now that Lori and I have a place in St. Pete, I will be making some updates to the below "St. Pete Guide". There are some spots on here that have closed, and a bunch that have opened and need to be added. And I'm sure we will expand and discover much more being down there more often. Stay tuned.

Check out this guide to St. Pete beer and coffee I put together. The coffee shop section is at the bottom.

ST. PETE

A Guide to Beer and Coffee

Montreal, QC - July 2025

I was recently up in Montreal with Lori on our annual Montreal trip. This city has many great coffee shops. I know of a bunch, but it seems there are still a lot of hidden gems that I don’t know about.

Pikolo, Place des Arts – Great location, near our hotel, and a great seating arrangement. It’s got a high-top counter looking out into the Place des Arts. Since it was in the middle of Jazz Fest, the view was of a giant concert stage. They also have low top tables, cozy and accommodating for laptops. The coffee is good and has a standard selection. They used to serve lattes out of glass, but have now switched to ceramic, cup and saucer. I prefer this.

Café Nocturne – This shop was a new find on this trip. This was tucked in on a side street in the lower part of Le Plateau. The seating was a little tight, but still cozy and comfy. It was fairly busy, with laptop users lining tables on the wall side. The shop has two large tables and for some reason everyone was sitting on the wall side looking towards the center of the shop. So we did too.

Café Leo – We’ve been going here for a few years. We like this place. It’s on St. Denis on the edge of the Gay Quarter. This place has a hairdresser shop inside, has hanging bike racks on the wall, and has a moveable art gallery throughout. The walls/partitions are moveable. Nice seating options and good foot traffic for people watching.

Boston, MA

This is pretty much my weekly work routine. Phin Coffee House, Intelligentsia, and George Howell's are the shops I try to get to on a weekly basis. Tatte and Ogawa Coffee are in the mix as well. The barristas at Phin are the best and know my name and order. But as soon as I start to feel special I realize they know almost everyone else's too.