I had jury duty at the Hingham courthouse in the morning, but they let us go before lunch, so I had an opportunity to explore this well-heeled seaside town on the Boston end of the South Shore. There are some fabulous homes along the coast and hidden among the marshes and woods. We have driven through there many times; today I wanted to explore on foot. Fortunately the area around Bare Cove and Hingham Square are particuarly nice for walking around and finding some lunch, and roses were blooming everywhere.

My first stop was by the waterfront at Bare Cove. It's a scenic area with a string of parks and public spaces with harbor-views looking past expensive shorefront homes and out toward Quincy and Boston.

There by a park was Redeye Roasters. What a great little discovery! The people were busy, but very welcoming and friendly. They roast their own coffee in a cheery red-and-gold San Franciscan roaster. Owner Bob Weeks delivers fresh-roasted coffee all over Hingham, and ships coffee wherever you need it.

They take iced coffee very seriously, too. Most places that serve iced coffee dump the remainder from their airpots into a pitcher and put it in the fridge. Some places cold-brew iced coffee, which makes is much less bitter and almost chocolatey. There is a lot to learn about the difference between cold-brewed and hot-brewed coffee and a quick web searc will turn up a lot, but the most important bit is that the two are very different, hot-brewing extracts bitter oils that can be very refreshing, or can be overdone. Cold-brewing doesn't get those, but that can be good or bad depending on your taste.

On weekends, Redeye uses this remarkable 4-stage contraption: the Yama Cold Brew Tower. They don't make a lot, and people pay $4 for an 8-oz cup, but they say it is the ultimate expression of the coffee bean, with bourbon-like notes and natural sweetness. I'll have to try it some weekend, but I couldn't try it today, so I got a more traditionally cold-brewed weekday-style iced Honduran coffee and set out exploring. It was delicious.

I first hit the large and well-stocked Fruit Center, or FC Marketplace just across the street from Redeye. It was certainly a beautiful display of fine produce! Some of it was local, much of it wasn't. I planned to visit the Plymouth Farmers' Market when I got home, so I bought no produce there. They also had milk from two local dairies, but I saw no local cream. In the soft-drinks section I was glad to see the local Simpson Spring Sodas.   

I explored a high-end wine merchant. He had some of our favorites and some that looked like a step up from our favorites, but he was too high-end for my wallet. A little further on I found the Snug, "home of the Perfect Pint", where I had a pleasant lunch and admired their selection of New England craft ales on draft while I chatted with some locals.  

Pressing on, I found The Bloomy Rind, a homey sandwich shop and cheesemonger. Their selection of cheeses was not as broad as that at the Whole Foods by the highway, but it had an overall higher level of quality and less filler than the big store has. They had two Jasper Hill cheeses that I had not seen before. I had started a conversation with a woman there, but it got crowded so I had left and returned after lunch. I sat there a while waiting for her to get free, and I wrote a "wish you were here" email to Lorna, but then a worker told me that computers aren't welcome there, so I made myself scarce. That's too bad; I wanted those Jasper Hill cheeses! 

That drew a metaphorical cloud over my wonderful sunny day, and I stewed on it as I walked past the roses back to my car by Bare Cove. I stopped in at Redeye again and saw that goofy Yama contraption and the friendly staff and the clouds parted. I had another iced coffee and enjoyed a beautiful early fall drive along Route 3a, the scenic route home.