Tag: peppermint

Crazy Mocha Coffee Company – Pittsburgh, PA

On By Rob GIn Going PlacesLeave a comment

On one of my previous visits to Pittsburgh, I tried Crazy Mocha Coffee Company and I liked it. When I was going to be there last week, I noticed that there was one really close to the hotel where I was staying, so I knew I would be there at least once.

I went there on a Wednesday morning after a long walk and decided to try a Peppermint Mocha Frappe. The consistency was perfect, and the flavor was great. The peppermint flavor went well with the mocha, and was a nice and refreshing treat.

I decided to go with a chocolate chip muffin for breakfast from there as well. This was a very good muffin. The sugar crystals on top added a nice burst of sweetness. The inside part was nice and light, and this accompanied the frappe nicely.

On Friday morning, the weather was really cold (20 degrees with a wind chill in the single digits), so I didn’t want to venture too far from my hotel. I went back to Crazy Mocha and decided to order a white chocolate mocha frappe. This also had good consistency and a nice flavor.

My original plan was to have two visits to Crazy Mocha, with the second one happening on the day I left (Saturday). Since it was so cold Friday morning, I ended up there. And Saturday morning was no better. The weather was in the teens and felt even colder. I wanted to limit how far I walked, so I stuck with Crazy Mocha for the third time. I got a Peppermint Bark Mocha Frappe this time. The consistency was great once again. The flavor was really good, too. This was different than the peppermint mocha because they had a peppermint bark syrup that they used, so there was the white chocolate base in there.

Three visits, three really good coffee drinks. Definitely has me looking forward to my next visit to the city!

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Mission BBQ and More

On By Rob GIn Going PlacesLeave a comment

Yesterday, I had some errands to run. My iPhone has been giving me problems, so I had set up an appointment at the Apple store in The Mall in Columbia (Maryland). It took a bit more time than expected, so I was able to get in a lot of walking around the mall. I was even able to try one of the seasonal drinks at the Nordstrom Bar. I tried the Peppermint Ice Storm with an extra shot of espresso. The consistency was really good. The flavor was great. They used a vanilla base and added in the peppermint flavor (sprinkles?). It was a nice, smooth peppermint flavor that really brought memories of a peppermint stick. I was happy that I tried it and look forward to hopefully going back and trying their other holiday flavors.

As far as the iPhone goes, they were able to put in a new battery, so my 6 has some legs left. Much better alternative than having to spend a lot of money on a new phone (even if the cameras and the extras are much nicer). And one day later, I’m happy with the difference. My battery has only drained 30% in 21 hours. It was only lasting about 6 hours before the switch, so a definite improvement. Now I just hope it will continue to perform well for at least another year or two.

After my time at the mall, I had planned on heading over to Mission BBQ. I just ended up eating an hour later than I had expected.

The cool thing is that they have big vehicles outside of their stores. The owners opened the first Mission BBQ on September 11, 2011 and proudly serve Those Who Serve. The inside of the restaurants are decorated with community donated memorabilia from military and public response forces. This past Veterans Day, they provided free sandwiches and cake for all veterans and active duty military personnel.

My usual go-to sandwich is the Chopped Brisket, but yesterday I wanted to change things up. I went for a Pulled Chicken sandwich with Kickin’ Collard Greens (a limited time only side), and accompanied that with a Grape Nehi (they also have some cool sodas available). There is a very short wait time to get the food. They make it to order and you can see them creating in the kitchen while you wait.

When you sit at the tables, you have six barbecue sauce options. There are regional options, so you can try different flavors, which is exactly what I did. I added some sauce for each of my first six bites. I thought my favorite was going to be the Memphis Belle, but the Smoky Mountain sauce went really well with the chicken sandwich. KC Classic was my second favorite with the chicken, and then the Memphis Belle. But all of the sauces were good, so there were no losers there.

I was happy to eat some good food and make my taste buds happy. But I really appreciate the mission statement (pun intended) of the restaurant and it was definitely easy to stay positive with the great experience I had!