Pinza - nice but not good

I've never been in to Pinza before, it's a spot next to the Nightingale Cafe. It's part grocery/deli/take away/coffee shop.

I was in for the coffee, and had faint hopes of it being surprisingly good.

I was out with baby Spiller in the pram and was picking up take away coffees for me and Mrs Spiller, the order was two small take away cappuccinos.

The man set about making the coffees while I took in the surroundings. Nothing too special, the food in the counters didn't look particularly appealing. The groceries were not well stocked. The place was clean though, I suppose that was encouraging.

The man making the coffees was nice enough and once he'd made the coffees he noticed it was going to be tough for me to carry two coffees and push the pram, while he didn't have the cardboard carry trays he rigged up a good plastic bag carry system to get my coffees home more or less in tact.

In hindsight it might have been best if I had tripped over trying to negotiate a curb and spilt the coffees on the pavement.

My first reaction was that it tasted like dirty water with overtones of used cigarettes. It didn't really improve. It was hot so I suppose that was a good thing, although I am wondering if the rather foul taste was due to the coffee and milk getting burnt. Whatever happened I will not be buying coffee from here again, better off having instant.

It's a shame because as I said the man was nice, the place was clean and I think a deli in that spot could do really well.

Coffee being prepared. I'm never tempted by cold samosas.

I like the idea of there being nice cheese and deli meats in these cabinets, it wasn't the case unfortunately.

Just be thankful you can't taste it. I finished mine, Mrs Spiller didn't.

Scores

Coffee
Hot: 10/13
Aroma: 1/13
Flavour: 1/13
Texture: 6/13
Presentation: 6/13

General
Service: 11/13
Food: /13 (n/a - there were a selection of samosas and promise of sandwiches but I didn't try anything)
Atmosphere: 8/13 (I actually quite liked it, although it's not atmosphere in the same way as a coffee shop would have)

Overall 3/13.

Starbucks - there I've done it

I don't like Starbucks, I try at all costs to avoid going there for coffee. My reasons are flimsy at best, I don't like chains stores of pretty much anything (I appreciate I'm a hypocrite because of course we shop at Sainsbury's and from time to time eat and shop and chain stores). Another reason is that their coffee always seems more like a milkshake than a coffee to me. I hate those massively tall cups that Starbucks drinks come in. I don't like the generic-ness of Starbucks, I just don't really like what Starbucks represents, and no I'm not exactly sure what that means but that's what I think. Anyway, someone else has set up a website for venting about Starbucks so I'm not going to do it any more. If you want to have a rant about startbucks or read other people's rants, go here http://www.ihatestarbucks.com.

This blog is not about crapping on about my views of the world. It's about trying all the coffee shops in Balham and telling my story about it. There is a Starbucks in Balham so last week I did my duty, and here is the low down.

I've been busy at work recently and have had to take the unusual step of doing a bit of work on the weekends. However with baby spiller being all cute at home, it's tough to concentrate when working at home. So last weekend I took my laptop into Balham in search of a cafe where I could buy a coffee and more importantly sit down and work for a few hours without feeling bad about not buying anything else. Starbucks - the perfect place.

It's been raining a lot recently but it was still quite a shock to walk in to Starbucks, which is on the ground floor of a 3 story terrace to find there were buckets strategically positioned around the place to collect water leaking from the ceiling. Most concerning was the water dripping from a light, which was on and over the bit where you collect your drink from. So not only did you have to be careful not to walk off with someone else's drink, but you had the added hazard of having filthy water dripping into your drink and getting electrocuted.

Apart from the abundance of water hazards there was a number of trip hazards as I wasn't the only one who decided to set up office in Starbucks. There were cables running all over the place.

I realised there are two types of people that go to Starbucks, those that want free wifi and those with kids. Actually there is a third group, munters - there were a few of those there too.

My order today was a flat white and a skinny raspberry muffin.

The flat white was actually not bad. Had some kick, was served in an appropriately sized china cup. The milk was quite creamy all the way through. I wish it was worse in some ways but to be honest, it was fine. The muffin wasn't good but what do you expect when you buy low fat stuff, my own fault really.

I stayed there for a few hours and never felt awkward about not buying anything else and taking up lots of space so in many respects Starbucks served a very good purpose. I would have felt bad being in a small independent coffee shop doing the same thing because I might have been depriving them of additional customers, and might have been tainting the atmosphere of the place - no such worries when you're at a starbucks.

So how about that then, I went to starbucks, the coffee was ok and it was actually the best place for me to go in the circumstances.

Don't ever expect me to recommend starbucks to anyone, they don't need your custom but I guess they do serve a purpose which I guess is what good marketing is about. I suppose they will continue to do well, damn it.

I didn't take any photos because I was working diligently, but you all know what the inside of a starbucks looks like. I wish I'd got a photo of the dripping light fitting but my mind was on my work!

Scores

Coffee
Hot: 9/13
Aroma: 8/13
Flavour: 8/13
Texture: 8/13
Presentation: 8/13

General
Service: 7/13
Food: 7/13
Atmosphere: 3/13 (no, I don't like it to the point that I would have been embarrassed if a friend saw me in there)

Overall 7/13. I wish I could score it worse, but that wouldn't be honest.