The Upper Cup

We stopped at Upper Cup Coffee Co., 79 Parsons Ave.,one morning after a work out. We parked in the lot alongside the building, even though some signs on the building designate which business gets which parking spots. We ignored the signs and went in.
The coffee shop is long and narrow and there were a few people chatting at tables.
The barista immediately took our order and got to work on our mochas.


Grace thought this looked like a painting
of Napoleon: It says, "Real gangsters
are short and speak in 3rd person.

Upper Cup Coffee offers small or large sizes, no mediums. The small size is 16 ounces and the large is 20 ounces, so they're the same size as the medium and large in most places. The large was $4.25, which is closer to the price most places charge for a medium.
Paulita got a decaf mocha, which they didn't have in the regular espresso machine, so the barista weighed out the beans and ground them right then. He looked at the date the beans were roasted and assured us the beans were fresh and would make a great espresso.
Upper Cup Coffee Co. doesn't offer a lot of other fancy drinks, so Grace stuck with a mocha as well.
The baristas were friendly and industrious. One was working on brewing tea for other customers, an elaborate ritual of dripping the hot water through cones of loose tea bags.
The music was jazzy and mellow as we waited for our drinks, looking at the art work and the comfortable couch where people could sit.
 We were in a hurry so didn't taste the mochas until we were in the car. That first sip was full of frothy, chocolatey deliciousness. And it was good throughout. The espresso was strong but not bitter. We could immediately taste the chocolate and sweetness, but one taste didn't overwhelm the other.

The coffee bean roasting equipment adds to the ambience.

Here's our review with 4 beans as the highest rating:
Taste of the mocha

      

Ambience

Barista

Overal Rating -- 4 beans but we loved it, so here's an espresso bean heart to show how much we loved it.

Mocha Quest Guidelines

We love a nice mocha.
That's why we decided to taste test mochas in independent coffee houses throughout Columbus, Ohio, to see which are mediocre and which are miraculous. Hopefully, we won't gain several pounds and spend hundreds of dollars.
So here are the rules that we're following.
The coffeehouse needs to be independent, not part of a chain, so forget about Starbucks, Caribou Coffee, Cup o' Joe.
Paulita will order a medium decaf mocha at every coffee house. If the barista asks, she'll turn down whipped cream. Otherwise, she'll take the mocha as it is made.
When Grace comes along, she'll order a specialty drink and we'll judge that as well.
The criteria by which we'll grade the coffeehouse and the mocha are the taste of the mocha (both chocolate and espresso), the ambience of the coffeehouse and the service of the barista. Plus an overall rating. The rating system will be 1 to 4 beans with 4 being miraculous. We'll rate each qualification by bean before giving it an overall bean rating.
We hope you'll send along suggestions of coffeehouses we should try and let us know if you agree or disagree with our reviews.
Maybe we can visit every independent coffeehouse in the Columbus area in 2013.
Challenge accepted.
Cheers!