Happy returns! SoHo Bakery and Cafe is back open, and better than ever. I can reverse my removal of them from the top ten list.
Short, short version: new owners, new menu, same great coffee. Also, the decor is much better too. Now it looks like it belongs in downtown rather than Liberty :)
The forecast was accurate. Magazines and Coffee is throwing in the tamper. They should have raised the alarm more than three weeks ago if they really wanted us to help.
This sign on their counter says they will be closing on Friday the 2nd.
Maybe I should stop putting good shops in my top 10 list. They keep closing.
Remember 3 weeks ago when I told you all to drink more coffee from the Top Ten Shops? Because the best shops in town keep closing? This is your opportunity to make good on that. Magazines and Coffee (currently #9 on top 10) is in trouble and might close soon.
[Deirdre Hanlon-Jones's] sales are about evenly divided between magazines and food, but her profit is higher on the food. Still, she doesn’t want to give up the magazines and become just another convenience store. She’s beefed up the lunch offerings with such items as vegetable parfait with carrots and sliced cucumbers that can be dipped in hummus or ranch dressing, and hot lunch specials such as red beans and rice, beef cooked in wine for 24 hours, and macaroni with three cheeses.
So help me keep a good shop open, and drink more coffee from MAC. As if my caffeine addiction isn’t bad enough already… Maybe just have more lunches there.
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Looking for my quintessential coffee shop? The ether to my java? YJ’s Snack Shop is it.
This little joint, nestled into the northwest edge of the crossroads district, is comfy, tasty, and friendly. Exactly what you want first thing in the morning. Good news is, though, they’re not open just in the mornings, or even just the days– they’re open 24 hours a day from Thursday till Sunday, when they cap off the weekend with live jazz before closing. Speaking of caps, YJ’s employees all wear fedoras at work. Is there some sort of mystical coffee and fedora connection I’m missing here? The baristas get to choose what music is playing. The music selections are often eclectic, ranging from jazz to rock to country to hispanic to punk to electronic.
…I prefer to not be by myself. Sorry, Mr. Thorogood. I prefer to feel that I’m in the thick of it. Watching the world go by with a coffee and a book in hand is a fun thing, and there’s no better place to do it than KC’s reviving downtown areas. I’m talking particularly today, of 12th and Main. 
I believe I may have happened upon the best spot in KC for this: the far, back corner of the Starbucks in the City Center Square. This corner has a comfy chair. This comfy chair has a window. This window is great for watching the world. I would recommend it to you, but then you might end up sitting there when I want it. I’m not sure I can handle that.
“But Scott, we thought you detested Starbucks?!”
I’ve talked before about shops with personality, and Espresso dell’Anatra has it in spades, although it might not be immediately observable. Your first hint is the sign hanging above the front door that states “We Specialize In Coffee Flavored Coffee.” 
Your next hint comes if you are lucky enough to both know how to speak Italian and to have met the owner, Aaron Duckworth. Its then that you will realize that the name of his shop is named literally, ‘Coffee of the Duck.’ I don’t know about you, but for my money, a play on words as a business name is worth its weight in coffee beans. Which reminds me: I need to start my own business, The Baby Seal Club.
You Say Tomato, a corner grocery-turned-coffee shop and diner serves a select few items, but has selected well. Appearing to be a combination of an urban living loft apartment and a coffee shop, YST will delight your senses and sensibilities. Just a few blocks south of UMKC’s Dental school in the Longfellow neighborhood, YST bakes better than Mom, brews coffee meticulously, and lives by the notion that the customer is their best friend.
Much of my coffeehouse exploring happens during my commute to work on Tuesdays and Thursdays. Over the last year and a half since I started this mission, I have covered a lot of ground, mostly in the urban corridor, as that’s where I’ve traveled to and from work. However, this pattern will be changing in just a few months- my commute will go from 20 miles to 2 blocks, so most of my T/R morning coffees will be at Eljay’s and City Market Coffeehouse. That just means I’ll have to make more of an effort to hit the suburbs to keep bringing you good shops we hadn’t heard of before. That, or …. just read a pretty little book??
