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Monday, August 18, 2008
Grand opening: Ugly Mugs Coffee
The Nashville Foodies team (sans one) ventured out to East Nashville on Saturday for the grand opening of Ugly Mugs, a new coffee shop in town. My own interest was to see how it compares to my personal favorite coffee shop, Crema.
The interior of the shop is airy, enhanced by a sliding garage door which really opens up the space on nice days like Saturday. There is varied seating, with available table/chairs, couches, and bar seating at the window. Parking is ample and easy to access.
We asked about specialties of the house and the baristas suggested the Vietnamese iced coffee, which two of us purchased. You are presented with a three-part combo: glass of ice, mug with sweetened condensed milk, and a contraption for drip-filtering the coffee (dark roast, chickory coffee – the right choice for this drink). You let the coffee drip through into the mug, mix it together with the milk, and then pour over ice. It’s a nice presentation. My only beef is that we were given the glass of ice at the same time as the coffee, and by the time the drip process had completed there was a significant amount of ice that had melted into the glass. One could either sip out the water and then pour in the coffee, or have watered-down Vietnamese coffee. Still, it was very good and a nice drink for the day. It was nice to be involved in the process of coffee, as opposed to just picking up a drink from the bar. Another of us had a mocha and it was very smooth, with good quality cocoa.
We also sampled baked goods from the shop, a slice of quiche and a red velvet cake muffin. Each were good and from local baked goods purveyors including The Sugar Bar.
Other interesting choices on the menu, which we hope to return and try, are Mexican hot chocolate and chai, which is made fresh on-site and not from a mix. Vegan lattes (rice and soy) are also available. The owners also hope to soon offer salads and paninis made fresh to-order on location. Take note that American Express is not accepted for payment.
Ugly Mugs uses the same roaster as Crema, Drew’s Brews, but there’s a distinct difference in the culture of the two coffee shops. Crema seems to take a more scholarly approach to coffee and is a nice cozy place for one to be in solitude or for two or three to meet up. Ugly Mugs is a good choice if you’re interested in an expanded coffeehouse culture which includes music and other offerings. Crema is still tops in my book, but Ugly Mugs is definitely an excellent choice for coffee in East Nashville.
Ugly Mugs
1886 Eastland Ave
Nashville, TN 37206
M-Sat 6am-9m
Sun 7am-3pm
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Meredith — August 18, 2008 @ 7:53 am
Perhaps I saw you there?!?
They didn’t have any sample foods out for tasting while we were there, just a couple of cupcakes in the case.
Kid-Friendly Coffee House: Ugly Mugs
Heather W. — August 18, 2008 @ 1:47 pm
Meredith: oh!! What time were you there? We arrived at around 11am.
Oops – I should have specified – we purchased the baked goods to sample.
I agree with your post about it being family-friendly! We saw several moms with children while we were there. I like having a coffeehouse option for families in Nashville.
Lacey — August 20, 2008 @ 3:29 pm
hmmm. i’d be interested to try the rice milk latte. i’ve tried making lattes with hemp milk and that was just a terrible idea. definitely checking into it!