Remedy is a fun little shop in North Oakland that serves a great, straightforward product. Though it was a little hard to find at first, it is a really solid shop not too far from the Berkeley Campus. I was originally mislead by some weird face book ad; though I thought the place was just opening, they have already been doing good business for the past few years.

It is a pretty fun place, well decorated and homey. It definitely had a Bay Area “older hip” style, very much a Berkeley place for me. I really liked the old phone booth in the corner, it was a nice throwback (wait… I’m not old!). In terms of the coffee bar, Remedy has a pretty simple set up with a brew bar and a two group head Linea. The modest look, however, is deceiving. I was definitely taken aback by the quality of their caps.

They use Ritual coffee for their drip and espresso and this is my first experience with their espresso. The cap itself was quite foamy and a little “fluffy” looking. It was, however, incredibly smooth and at an excellent drinking temperature. I was really blown away by the flavor. Their baristas are able to balance the milk and espresso flavors extremely well, with the espresso cutting right through the milk and offerng something very tasty but not exceedingly bright or bitter. I really thought that everything blended very well, so much so that I wanted to gulp down my whole cap after the first taste.

The owner and barista were very approachable and modest about their shop. Overall they were very open to talking about the business and gave the hip store a very approachable vibe. Their logo was really awesome too, they say a good idea/business can be made or broken on their image, but you guys nailed it! Great job Remedy!

I liked:

• The simplicity and modestness
• The rich flavor of my espresso