Nestled in what appears to be an unsuspecting small town gobbled up by the sprawl of metro Atlanta is a great spot to re-caffeinate, check your email and chill out while you inspect some interesting artwork. Yep, its an old-fashioned coffee shop in Downtown Norcross called Northern Star Coffee House.

Driving toward the coffee shop down South Peachtree Street (on the far north side of Atlanta), you can easily forget you are minutes from the busy expressways of the big city. While I like what Starbucks did to the coffee industry, I hate what it did to the coffee shop. Starbucks (and other chain store coffee shops) are all the same, homogenized, sterile, devoid of local colour and missing that important element that makes you feel like you’re buying a cup of joe rather than a marketing-department-designed-coffee-drink.

Northern Star Coffee House has wood floors, brick walls, comfortable lighting, huge seating area inside, a massive patio and of course, great coffee.

My favorite is the Mandarin Mocha, an orange-tinged, chocolate frothy ass-kicker. The other drink I am suddenly addicted to is the Shooting star. That’s two shots of espresso in a tall coffee. Whap! Wake up fool!

They generously provide FREE WIFI internet access. So you can go get your coffee and continue to work. Get out of the office, sit down among beautiful artwork and send some nasty email reply to that pesky accountant. They also support the local artist community. Besides the art on the walls, they have a Tuesday open mic and weekend musicians. There is nothing better then hearing the sound of an acoustic guitar bounce off the brick wall in a place with as cool a vibe as a true to the bones coffee shop. Maybe I’ll stop in one Tuesday evening to try my old hand at a Dave Matthews song or two.