It's that time of year again, time for turkeys, and candles and pie! And what good is all that without a great cup of coffee?  This year we have lots of exciting stuff to make your holidays that much more awesome.

Travelling to faraway lands is nothing if not fun.  However, finding a great cup of coffee in unfamiliar environments can be quite the challenge.  Fortunately persistence and an internet connection usually pay off.  

Upon arriving at Acton Turville, about 2 hours West of London, it became apparent that I might have a slight struggle ahead of me.  Acton Turville is a village in the Cotswolds of about fifty or a hundred souls.  Ancient stone cottages? Check. Charming, inviting pub with good beer selection? You bet.  Beautiful pastoral farms ringed by crumbly old stone walls?  You know it.  Coffee shop?  Nope... nothing even remotely resembling one.

Things began looking up when we found a french press hiding in the cupboards of the house we were staying in, a beautiful 18th century coach house that was part of a duke's estate.  However, Acton 

Turville has only one store (attached to the post office) and their selection was shall we say quite limited.  As in, they carried one brand of coffee and it was in brick form.  We had to make do for several days until an outing into Bath.  I even drank tea one morning - I'm sure my street cred is shot now.

Before heading to Bath I did some cursory research on the coffee shops they have there and it became apparent that Jika Jika was the place to head to.  In the middle of a sort of busy shopping area, it seemed centrally located enough.  We found it with very little trouble.  Beautifully outfitted and pretty busy for the early afternoon, Jika Jika has a nice weigh bar for lunch, dark wood everywhere, a beautiful three arched back bar and cozy seating.  They offer a house blend, an espresso blend, and two single origin options prepared with a Hario V60 cone drip maker.  I knew I had hit upon the right place when I noticed this line in their menu:

Your favorite coffee jerks were on hand at the National Multiple Sclerosis Society's MS150 bike ride this last Sunday, handing out bags of Danger Monkey and travel mugs to well deserving riders. Additionally, we roasted up enough coffee to satisfy over 3000 cyclists at the start of the event on Saturday... something like 630 gallons of coffee!

We are proud to sponsor this event which raises millions of dollars to assist people in Colorado living with Multiple Sclerosis, and we're looking forward to sponsoring the ride next year and in years to come!  The finish line festivities are always a blast, and everyone is in great spirits.

For more information or to get involved with next year's ride, go ahead and click here.

Check out this great writeup in the Denver Post about Pablo's Coffee!  "...no neighborhood has a better coffee shop than Alamo Placita (just south of Capitol Hill), where Pablo's — which boldly calls itself "A Worldwide Coffee Chain of One" — proffers hot cups of its Danger Monkey blend to a crew of regulars that fills the place to capacity every morning."

Thanks Denver Post, and thanks all the above referenced regulars for supporting us all these years.  Pablo's Loves You!