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Home / Cafe Culture / SmellTheCoffee.comThis review was from July 2000. This site no longer exists.
Name: SmellTheCoffee.com A quick glance at SmellTheCoffee.com’s homepage is all that is necessary to show just how ambitious the site is. There is a lot going on here, and a bit of everything for the coffee lover. The homepage is well attuned to the summer season, indicative of a site that is satisfyingly current throughout, and new links and features are continually being added in every corner. Up front, feature articles chronicle coffee adventures in England and Mexico, a (non-coffee-specific) News corner features iSyndicate feeds, and there is an AvantGo channel for palm pilot users. Given the vast scope of material covered on this site, it is clear that consistent devotion is paid to the production and maintenance of SmellTheCoffee.
Where will you get your next cup?Perhaps the most impressive feature of this site is its Directory, a global list of coffee houses and coffee shops. Whether you are looking for a good place near your home, or you need information on coffee sources while traveling, this feature of SmellTheCoffee will be of interest to many visitors. Going to Nairobi, Kenya anytime soon? Fear not; the Directory has it covered, and can show you the way to the MIPS Netcafe. If you seek more regional information about cafes in the United States, the Directory brings you through a menu of states, another menu of towns/cities, then to a list of coffee spots in the chosen city. Finally, each listed site is a link to standard directory information on the coffee spot (name, address, and telephone number), an Expedia.com map of its location, and sometimes an email addresses and/or website URL. The Directory is no exception to the site’s efforts to remain current -- over a dozen links had been added in the two weeks prior to the writing of this review. eCoffeeShop shopping from the sublime to the ridiculousThe site’s eCoffeeShop could also occupy hours of the visitor’s attention. Coffee and coffee accessories are here in droves – to wit, over 175 products from over 30 different coffee establishments. The usual suspects are here, including appliances, mugs, and most importantly, a diverse range of coffees in categories such as Africa, America, Decaf, Green Beans, and Organic. For all its offerings, however, the Coffees section of the eCoffeeShop pales in originality compared to the Apparel section. Coffee-inspired t-shirts are offered here, as well as Coffee bean earrings and pendants. No matter what category of merchandise, the eCoffeeShop’s offerings are listed in a visually attractive and informative format – the shopper’s choices are certain to be educated ones. A SmellTheCoffee communityThe Community section of SmellTheCoffee is a mixture of the expected and the unexpected. Registered visitors may post on the Bulletin Board, where one of the busier topics is "Issues facing coffee businesses." The Coffee Cookbook features both conventional coffee recipes and less conventional dinner recipes such as coffee mole avec shrimp or spaghetti al caffe. SmellTheCoffee can at times feel a bit too wide-ranging and stretched out. With all the different types of content, a thorough surfing of the site is a challenge, and the visitor can only imagine how much more of a challenge it is to maintain SmellTheCoffee. That much said, however, no coffee lover is going to leave this site unsatisfied. SmellTheCoffee is clearly adept at keeping current with its wide scope of material, and INeedCoffee salutes it as the July 2000 Site of the Month. |
