The last time we actually posted something in this column (as opposed to our contest cop-out), it ended with something like, "blah blah, sick of chalk menus, blah blah, cafes are all the same, blah blah."

Perhaps the problem wasn't with the cafes your Trimethyldioxypurist was visiting. Perhaps the problem was, in fact, your Trimethyldioxypurist. We tend to gravitate toward what we're comfortable with, toward what we know.

So, in our efforts to find something special, new--or at least different--we tried to find a couple joints that weren't previously on our radar. Our usual tendency is to avoid places that are tourist-heavy. We also avoid busy, crowded places with lots of foot traffic. Accordingly, this week we tried J.R. Mugg's (499 Bay St.), at the turnaround point of the Taylor Street cable car line, as well as Cafe Venice, a sort of ramshackle, hole-in-the-wall kind of place right off the 24th St. BART station.

J.R.'s interior is cleaner than an operating room, big, airy, and pleasing. We were a bit surprised; there were a ton of tourists outside waiting for the cable car, and nary a person inside the shop. J.R.'s, in addition to coffee drinks, has food and gelato. It was a hot day, and the "triple espresso" gelato was especially tempting.

We were looking forward to trying the coffee at J.R.'s, as it's advertised as "all fair-trade, all organic." Emphasizing our efforts to try something different, and taking our cue from the proprietor of Palindrome, we started with an espresso macciato, which was described to us as "an espresso topped off with milk foam." The result was interesting -- and not necessarily in a good way. The flavor started off lovely -- a little dark, bitter, and lively. Toward the middle, the taste turned very sour, which was wholly unexpected. The finish, however, was clean, so the sourness didn't linger.