Amara Coffee and Chocolate

“Amara Coffee and Chocolate” is originally posted as a guest post for The Cappucino Traveler. Just like me, Crystal is passionate about coffee across different methods and styles. Come check it out!

This post is part of a series of different people sharing their favorite (local) cafes. In this post, I feature Amara Coffee and Chocolate in Pasadena because it has two of my favorite things: good drinking chocolate and fresh, hot churros!

After what felt to me like months and months of non-stop work and projects, I decided to dedicate the month of August to place the brakes.

 

I wanted to finally relax and remind myself of some of the things in life that bring me joy. Yes, I have a husband and two dogs that keep me centered but there are things in life that bring me joy. One of them is exploring different coffee houses.

For this post, I’ll highlight Amara Chocolate and Coffee (Amara C+C) in Pasadena. It’s an authentic Venezuelan cafe serving brunch, coffee, pastries, and of course hot chocolate.  My husband and I discovered this place a couple of years ago, when we were walking around  Pasadena, walking off our dinner. Unfortunately that dinner was bland.  It was cold (for California standards), we wanted desserts and found Amara C+C.

For our first visit, we got hot drinking chocolate and churros for dessert. The churros were fresh and the drinking chocolate was decadent. Since then we’ve been going back, especially when we are feeling especially indulgent. Bonus points if the weather is cold and rainy too. Gladly, I am taking you readers to Amara because it is in my top five favorite cafés in Los Angeles — it’s a real treat. Plus I am ordering a hot drink on a Sunday brunch day in August.

Side note: How cool is it that the owner, Amara Barroeta, was a former chemical engineer and a Miss Venezuelan contestantbefore pursuing her business venture?

I got the Cacao Latte — it’s different from their Venezuelan drinking chocolate. This one has coffee and is less thick than the drinking chocolate. But still, you’ll find yourself taking your time drinking this cacao latte because it is still rich. I certainly did, and enjoyed every sip. If it’s your first and only time (I hope not) you’ll visit Amara, you must get the Venezuelan drinking chocolate.

If you could only go here once, at least get the churros with either dark chocolate dipping sauce or dulce de leche. These are freshly made on arrival. You have choice of dark chocolate, dulce de leche, condensed milk, Nutella, or guava sauce  dipping sauce. You can share these with friends…or not *wink*.

Address: 55 S Raymond Ave, Pasadena, CA 91105

Take a break at the Huntington Library

Collage is defined as:

a piece of art made by sticking various different materials such as photographs and pieces of paper or fabric onto a backing,

the art of making collages, and

a combination or collection of various things

For this post, I’ll apply the definition with the last point: “a combination or collection of various things.”

I’ll feature the Huntington Library and Garden at Sierra Madre. It’s one of my favorite places in Los Angeles. Actually Huntington Library hits my Top Ten places in Los Angeles.

The campus is huge and each time I go, I don’t go through everything because there’s so much to see! I enjoy taking this visit in chunks, but then again I am local and I do come back again. If you are in Los Angeles for a visit, go see as much as you can from the Huntington Library and take a break at the Rose Garden Tea Room for some tea and sandwiches.

I took this photo back in I believe 2013. It’s interesting the way the leaves of this deciduous tree is placed against the bamboo.

A cactus collection in the desert garden.

I’ve got quite a photo collection from Huntington Library. Stay tuned for more photos in future photos!

Weekly Photo Challenge: Collage