TNT Black wasn't Black Enough

I am a huge fan of cafe Americano and yet I try to drink it with a purpose and no more than 2 cups a day. Thus, I usually mingle around the city to try different kinds of beans and tastes, because I keep telling myself "hey you got only 2 shots, it should be worthy". Yesterday, I found that “TOM N TOMS BLACK” has opened in Ulaanbaatar (according to what they say, its first branch of this kind in overseas). So I decided to try and write a review about it cuz the branch has the word “BLACK” on its name and Americano is black right? Okay enough nonsense.

First things first, location. So the branch is opened in the Shangri-La mall, which I believe, is not super accessible place. I, personally spent around an hour on fully packed bus to get here. geez. But that wasn’t the end of my struggling. I spent couple of minutes to find out where the heck is it. The info on Facebook said it’s in the mall but it wasn’t. Later, I found it’s located in the north east side of the building but you cannot access to the coffee shop through the mall. What you have to do is get out from the mall and enter through a different door. Which sucks.

Interior of the branch is pretty different from traditional TOM N TOMS branches. Here, you can see dominance of black color. Even staffs here wears black uniform which is different from traditional light brown uniform of TOM N TOMS. One thing I liked the most is chairs, they are pretty damn comfy. However, the place is not that big. But it has 2nd floor which is kinda good management when it comes to lack of space. Although the place is not as big as other branches, it has three private rooms (I don’t think it was that necessary). WIFI here seemed pretty okay but I couldn’t access in to my BLOG (I tried the same with my LTE hostpot and the server was perfectly functional.).

BUT they doesn’t have a freaking restroom, WC, toilet, whatever you call it. Hey this is a place where people usually come to drink espresso based beverages and they don’t have a WC? Staff told me I can use the one in Shangri-La but I don’t want to wear my outfit and go outside and then get inside JUST TO USE GODDAMN WC.

Price range here seemed not that different from other places. I bought regular size Americano with 5800MNT. The coffee has a strong and yet light taste in it which is my fav. By strong, I did not mean "Over roasted" strongness but the quality of the bean. I wanted to try more beverages but I’m a broke student tho, so... haha. And they serve it to you in this special black coffee mug (BRANDING!). In terms of menu, they offers variety of goods which you won’t find any other branches of TNT.

Lastly, It doesn’t have a room for smoke nor trash can outside nearby. I know it’s not the first thing to consider when you go to a coffee shop but for me, it is. I think a coffee and puffs are complimentary goods in most cases (especially in Mongolia).

To conclude, even though I liked the quality of bean, TOM N TOMS BLACK didn’t seem “BLACK ENOUGH” for me . Personally, I wouldn’t intend myself to come here again. There are hundreds of coffee shops in each and every corner of UB which are super accessible and convenient. It might be the best if, only, you order to take out.