Food: Bourbon Street Coffee

During exam time, you'll often find me hitting the books at a local coffee shop. Not surprisingly, Gainesville is full of them. Most are downtown or near the university, however, so lately I've been going to Bourbon Street Coffee. It's part of a chain of coffeehouses that's either owned by Ben & Jerry's or partnered with them (there's Ben & Jerry's ice cream sold right inside).

Despite the moniker, there's no particular effort to reflect the coffee culture of New Orleans. It'd be nice if I could order up a fresh beignet, but instead you get the standard issue premade pastries - scones, cookies, muffins - none of it particularly noteworthy. The coffee is unremarkable, too, but the saving grace is that my local shop features "buy 1, get 1 free" on lattes on weekdays. My local Bourbon Street also caters to the college exam crowd - the place has wifi, plenty of power sockets, and is open fairly late into the night. All in all, it's a pleasant place to study.

2/4 stars