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The first 12 years of my life were spent fondly (and sometimes dramatically) growing up in Midtown Atlanta. We lived in a big red brick apartment complex on a hill on Piedmont Avenue, overlooking Piedmont Park and right around the corner from Wynn Park -which had the “big red slide” that I spent many hours sliding down and climbing up.
My German mother was always a big coffee consumer. She not only loved it, but owned a construction company and had two children to chase after every day – she needed it. But, she wasn’t one to drink just any coffee – she had to have the best. This is where Caribou Coffee came into play, rather regularly, in my life.
Even though I was a bit too young for coffee, I loved Caribou Coffee. We would drive by it every day, often stopping in for my mother’s fix of gourmet coffee. When we drove by, I always stared at the building, the customers, and the cartoon caribou bounding across the turquoise sign- I always loved that sign (and wondered why it was called Caribou Coffee).
When we’d go inside, it always offered itself as some sort of refuge – be it from the sweltering (and I mean sweltering) summer heat or the cold winter wind. My mother would order her coffee, and I always got either a delicious pastry, cool blended drink, or hot chocolate. Everyone was always friendly at this Caribou location, and the ambiance always inviting and refreshing. When my sister was born, she was initiated into our Caribou visitations as well – maybe contributing to her loving coffee as much as myself. The visits certainly contributed to our love of holing up in a coffee shop somewhere.
When I got older, and discovered my love for good coffee, I would stop by Caribou as often as I could. Sadly, there aren’t too many locations scattered throughout Georgia, so it wasn’t as often as I liked. Often, I would have to satisfy my craving by purchasing a bag of whole bean Caribou coffee at the grocery store, or brew a k-cup in the afternoon. And more recently, I have moved to Elk Grove, and have not found my local Caribou Coffee shop yet (let me know if you know of one!).
Caribou is celebrating 20 years of being in business this week, and I want to offer my congratulations and my short, but heartfelt, memories of my favorite location growing up. Cheers, Caribou! Keep it up!