Not that long ago, Poblenou had almost no decent coffee spots. But that’s changed. With the startups came the coffee shops. Now it is common to trip over three or four on a single block — all local, all unique, all worth trying.

So we did the only reasonable thing: made a day of it. I love a theme and a logo! Eight stops. Seven cortados. One vermut (we needed to calm those heartbeats down somehow). A medley of tiny stools. And no two cortados alike.

We called it Día de los Cortados. Everyone got a stamp after each café, and by mid-afternoon our hands looked like we’d been rubbing up against poison ivy. Lilly documented the group’s descent from “chill curiosity” (#1), evolving into “lots of ‘ideas'” (3) and what she described as “squirrely / ADHD” (#4), and finally “rambling” (#6). Accurate.

Along the way, we rated the coffee (and sometimes the chairs), coined new terms, debated whether Michael invented pants, learned from Anna that, “I’ve had four cortados, I can do what I want.”

The day was a long, zigzag walk with warm cups, familiar voices, and the creation of new stories.

With a cortado. Or seven.

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Our rating:

Here are the ratings and how we described each place. Yeah, sometimes people used numbers to describe. It is what it is.

Pécora

Ratings: 8, 9, 9, 8, 7
Look & feel: genuine, 7, eclectic, dystopian

Frutas Selectas (Nomad)

Ratings: 7, 7, 9, 7, 7
Look & feel: mid-century modern, madmen, 6

Ombu

Ratings: 6, 4, 3, 3, 7
Look & feel: Aunt Ruth, earthy, inviting, fern, 3

Otsu

Ratings: 6, 9, 5, 8, 9
Look & feel: Danish sauna, 8

Taulat 44

Ratings: 6, 6, 5, 3, 4
Look & feel: millennial, 4, 5

Sensorial

Ratings: 7, 7, 6, 7, 7
Look & feel: chill, dark, dim, hipster

Ugo’s Corner

Ratings: 7, 8, 8, 9, 9
Look & feel: friendly

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