El Paso: Downtown: Coffee Box

Coffee Box, El Paso, Texas.

The first time I heard of the Coffee Box, I was cold and had just finished attending something downtown. I saw someone with a coffee cup in her hand. I asked her where she got her coffee. She said the "Coffee Box," and waved her hand in a direction and said, "San Jacinto Plaza." 

I was so new to El Paso, I didn't know about anything.

So I heard the word "coffee" and the word "box" and "plaza." The first place I saw at the San Jacinto Plaza was the little kiosk-y cafe, and I thought, huh, this must be it.

No, no, no, no.

The coffee was groaningly bad. That metallic taste when the machine hasn't been cleaned in too long, where you're much better off with the cheap-assiest brand of instant coffee than this. Now don't get me wrong - the food at this kiosk-y place is quite popular, and I love that it's open so late every night at the plaza. Just don't get the coffee there.

I didn't discover until later that the Coffee Box, which is, actually, in a box, two boxes, one atop another - is over on the other side of the plaza, in a parking lot, really.

Coffee Box, El Paso, Texas.

Coffee Box coffee: good. Not amazing, stupendous, or out of this world. It's good, and there ain't nothing wrong with that.

Local artwork.

Coffee Box, El Paso, Texas.

Pretty tight quarters on the street level; upstairs there's a breezy deck and a cozy interior. Free wifi.

Coffee Box, El Paso, Texas.

When the El Paso wind shoos through, which she likes to do, the box shivers.

The wallpaper design on one wall. Eye play.

Coffee Box, El Paso, Texas.

Coffee Box, El Paso, Texas.

Coffee Box, El Paso, Texas.

Coffee Box, El Paso, Texas.

Coffee Box, El Paso, Texas.