Anthology Coffee

Been many times…Not going back, the coffee is good, I would give 4-5 stars just based on the coffee alone, however…

My problem with this place is threefold…

First, I’ve never found them to be very friendly.

Second, and this might be tied into the first point, but I’ve never found it to be the most inviting cafe…I think it has something to do with the messy space and layout of the ordering area…that being said one positive is that they seem to have improved the seating options over the years…in any case none of that would be too big of a deal if you just come for good coffee…

Thirdly, and this is really what has now become a deal breaker for me, is they’ve recently chosen to become political and I really don’t understand why people deliberately choose to use their business as a political platform…

…The Israeli-Palestinian conflict has been going on since practically the dawn of time and it’s not really all that straightforward of a situation, and I’m honestly not even sure how I even feel about it, but to suddenly decide you’re so certain which side is right based on what largely seems to be hamas social media propaganda seems a bit reactionary considering the leadership on both sides of the political spectrum has largely been pro Israel for at least the last 100 years if not since our founding. So it seems a bit arrogant for young people to suddenly assume they know better than all our leaders when it’s clearly a more nuanced issue. As long as that sign is above the counter I will not be coming back.

Finally I would take the over hyped “this is the best coffee on earth comments with a grain of salt”. I tend to work at coffee shops a lot so I’ve been to hundreds across the country and there are quite simply a lot of good coffee shops even in the greater Detroit area, though you do have to seek them out.

This last time, while certainly not bad by any measure, I wasn’t sure if it was as good as in the past or maybe it just seemed less impressive because the other factors above were influencing me and there are other excellent options nearby now such as La Ventana, which frankly as a much nice atmosphere and friendlier service.

Either way I could never claim any coffee shop was the best ever because I would have to be able to sample them all at the same time to really make an accurate judgement of the subtle differences in coffee flavor from all of the very solid never bad coffee shops that you can find around the country. And it’s very difficult to remember with any type of accuracy how much better or worse a coffee was that I had at some other cafe after a day or more has passed. For me there are three tiers of coffee. Those who consistently make bad coffee, those who consistently make good coffee and those somewhere in the middle where it’s not complete trash, but never as good as you wish it was. This place definitely falls into the consistently makes good coffee category and I’ll be more than happy to return if and when they decide to keep politics out of their place of business.