alaskan coffee shacks

on my last evening in anchorage, before the dreaded 12:45 am flight (that would be a red-eye) to start my journey back to denver, i continued my tradition of sleuthing out as many espresso carts as possible within about an hour.  i was successful in finding another 12 carts, all within the vicinity of anchorage, alaska.  

after researching all 25 espresso shacks, major conclusions include:

+ they are all drive-thru 

+ most, if not all, are plopped on top on cinder blocks at edge of a vacant parking lot 

+ the more colorful or tacky, the better

+ most are locally-owned and staffed with high school kids who make a decent wage (better than flipping burgers)

+ why just serve coffee? some boast bbq, smoothies, hot dogs, and yes, tea.

+ most average less than 100 square feet in size.  that is smaller than a single car garage.

+while the coffee is better than starbucks, there's room to improve in the customer service department

+ they open at an un-Godly hour of 5am, some even earlier.  they usually shut down around 7pm.

+ catchy and not-so-catchy names work the same.  the norm: a cup on the run, java king, hot shot espresso, sugar shack espresso, cool beans coffee shack.  the ones meriting a bit more giddy intelligence: morning moose calf-e, how you bean espresso...

i posted a few favorites below and also the rest here to see all done-up with spiffy, dynamic viewer.