Los Gatos Coffee Roasting Company, Los Gatos, CA

What did you do for New Year?  Were you like me, and let it all pass you by, or were you out partying hard?  Whatever you did, I hope you had a great time, and that 2012 is a fabulous year for you.

Seguing into the last instalment of my recent work trip to San Jose, it would be remiss of me to leave out the Los Gatos Coffee Roasting Company.  On its website, this cafe is self-described as "The town's favorite gathering place for delicious coffee, conversation and camaraderie."  It is certainly very popular, as both mornings that we were there, it was filled with people enjoying breakfast and a coffee, and many had brought their laptops to avail themselves of the wi-fi service at the cafe.  On the first day, everyone seemed to know everyone there, so as a small group of strangers with funny accents, we really stood out.


This cafe-come-diner in the heart of Los Gatos was decked out for Christmas when we were there (as seen at the top of this post), and was one of the cutest places you could ever go for coffee.  The people who made the coffee greeted us cheerily both mornings that we were there, and you can get an enormous coffee to kick start your day (a 16 oz!).  I opted for the slightly smaller 12 oz, which gave me all the caffeine I needed, and the coffee was really good - American coffee has a bad reputation here, based mostly on the ubiquitous filter coffee, but this was the real deal made with a coffee machine.
 
On the first morning for breakfast, I ordered the oatmeal:

It was a steal at USD2.95 plus tax, and was served with dried fruit, nuts and brown sugar on the side.  Unlike the glorified gloop that I have had in some cafes here (at around three times the price!), this oatmeal was made by people who know how it ought to be, and was absolutely delicious.  I thought it was so good, I ordered it the second morning as well.

There is a range of hot food available at the cafe - as an example of what is on offer, my colleagues ordered breakfast calzonis and quiches.

I also continued my fascination with trying uniquely American flavour combinations, and bought a slice of pumpkin cream cheese loaf as "take out" for later in the day:

This was perhaps a little dry for my tastes, but the flavour combination was interesting.  It has been a while since I have baked with pumpkin, but I will have to try and include it in my repertoire some more.

To give you a feel for the town of Los Gatos itself, here are a couple of photos taken in the street near our hotel: 

As you can see, even the burger joint is picturesque!  Beats the plastic fantastic of the Golden Arches and  Hungry Jacks any day.

We were also in for a treat being there at Christmas, as there were Christmas lights in the town square: 

Even though this photo was taken with an iPhone, you get a feel for how lovely it was - Christmas fairy-land material.

If you ever happen to be passing through Los Gatos,  drop in for a coffee at the Los Gatos Coffee Roasting Company, and say hi to the friendly baristas.

Los Gatos Coffee Roasting Company
101 W. Main St, Los Gatos, CA
+1 408. 354.3263