Heine Brothers

With five locations, and soon a sixth, Heine Brothers is the big fish in the independent coffee house pond in Louisville. Sometimes my natural inclination is to dislike things as they grow larger and larger and get away, at least in my opinion, from their small, independent roots. I'll confess that inclination has applied to Heine Bros. I've purposely avoided Heine Brothers at times in favor of local shops with one location instead of the "local chain."

But five stores in ten years isn't really that rapid a growth rate and with the exception of one very, very surly barista at my local Heine Brothers the quality of service and product is good across the board. OK one of the evening baristas at my local Heine Brothers makes drinks at a snail's pace but that's another minor complaint. Coming up with only two minor complaints after as much time as I've spent in Heine Brothers means that I don't really have much to complain about and so I'm quite grateful that I live in walking distance to a Heine Brothers.

The best compliment I can give Heine Brothers, as a small chain, is that I can count on consistency in their products. At large chains like Starbucks the quality and even the way a drink is made can vary from store to store and in independent, one location, coffee shops it can vary from employee to employee. At every Heine Brothers location I've visited and from every employee (even the surly one and the slow one) I've received a drink the quality has always been excellent and it has been made the same every single time. When I order a cappuccino at Heine Brothers I know it's not going to be the overly milky, hardly any foam latte-like concoction I've too often received at other coffee shops. No, it's going to be a proper cappuccino.
 
The second best compliment I can give Heine Brothers is to acknowledge that they are great places to work, have meetings or just hang out with a book. The environments at all the locations are just comfortable.

I'm sure the newest location, at Gardiner Lane, will have a comfortable atmosphere and vibe as well. Let's have a flashback moment though and think about how Heine Brothers in the Gardiner Lane shopping center is the closest we're ever going to get to the cafe in Hawley-Cooke way, way back in the day. Man, I still miss Hawley-Cooke.