I'm sick today, some hideous common cold. I probably contracted it during the hospital tour on the weekend (we went to inspect the palatial Microsoft funding birthing lairs). Anyway I decided to get out of the house and go for coffee. After attempting to cross the bridge to get to Vivace (high wind caused the traffic to be fubar) I settled on Tully's in downtown Redmond. Fearing the straight espresso I tried the machiato. Now I'm a fan of a true machiato - basically a small 'smudge' of milk on an espresso. In America it is popular to convert the machiato into a 'mini cappuccino' (I also saw this in Northern Italy in the defense of the Americans). However Tully's took this one step further: it was a mini Latte. Straight milk pour first with espresso poured on top. I dread to think what an espresso con panna is at Tullys.

Disclaimer: I am a Starbucks shareholder. I'll give Howard Schultz one thing - he is trying to restore the soul of the company. Howard: go spend a day at Vivace and Stumptown and you will see the same prices as the mermaid but x1000 times the quality. How about you just try for x100 better.