Genuine Joe and Thunderbird Coffee go bean to bean in this highly subjective matchup. 

Proximity to chez Sarath

Genuine Joe: Close, too far to walk comfortably, an easy (slightly uphill) bike ride, but downhill going home, especially if you want to cut through Brentwood Park

Thunderbird: Closer, easy to walk, easy (slightly downhill) bike ride (but shall we point out, uphill going home, rather hard on the heart after all that caffeine)

Menu

Genuine Joe: pastries from Russell’s – need to say more?

Thunderbird: pastries from Russell’s too (not completely sure about this but I’m pretty sure) and “hey, we can buy a panini maker from Wal-Mart and sell flattened sandwiches at highly inflated prices!” Oh, and salads.

Atmosphere

Thunderbird: hip

Genuine Joe: hippy

Seating

Thunderbird: plenty, but why put the couches in front of the line to be served? Nice deck.

Genuine Joe: plenty. There is a private meeting room, which is hard to book as it is very popular, also a study wing, and a decent deck. It’s dark though.

Service

Thunderbird: sullen, long waits due to location near McCallum High and main commuting thoroughfare

Genuine Joe: smiles, long waits due to conversations between servers and regulars (note, this can also be annoying, depending on where one is in one’s commute to work)

Basic coffee and  quality

Thunderbird: Once I put spoiled half-and-half in my coffee and didn’t find out til I got to work. That sucked.

Genuine Joe: mild brew, and the half-and-half has never let me down.

 Music

Thunderbird: professional-quality musicians

Genuine Joe: Let’s put it this way, avoid open-mike night

Baseline Price

Genuine Joe: small cup of coffee, $1:54, okay yeah, not cheap in these trying times

Thunderbird: small coffee, TWO DOLLARS?!!!! TWO DOLLARS?!!! WHAT DO THEY THINK THEIR COFFEE IS MADE OF, THAT STUFF THAT HAS BEEN EXCRETED BY SMALL JUNGLE MAMMALS?!!!

Conclusion

Drink at Joe’s.