Sometimes, the only way to truly experience a place is to spend a lot of time there. Like, an entire afternoon.

I did exactly that last Saturday by spending at least five hours in one of downtown Knoxville’s newest additions: the Coffee and Chocolate coffee shop.

But this wasn’t the first time I’d visited the shop, located on 327 Union Avenue just around the bend from Market Square.

My fiance and I swung by on that occasion because we had never come across the store before then. That, and we’re both coffee fanatics.

That first trip gave us a chance to try an excellent chocolate and cheesecake concoction (whose official name escapes me) and the coffee.

Both were tasty — my fiance wasn’t that impressed with the dessert however, I’m more easily swayed — though the coffee wasn’t that far in quality or freshness than that of The Golden Roast, located near the UT campus.

Also, I was a bit miffed that the barista couldn’t tell me where their coffee was sourced — this happened on both trips I made to the shop. Instead I was told to ask the absentee owner.

But atmosphere is very nice with sparse decor, and a very urban feel.

There aren’t very many tables, so be prepared to stand or enjoy your coffee and treat elsewhere.

And since Coffee and Chocolate offers free wireless there stands a good chance most of the tables will be filled by the Internet-hungry crowd. I definitely fall into that group.

Since my fiance and I met in a coffee shop, we’re both exceptionally picky about these places. In fact, we believe you can judge a city based on the quality of its coffee shops.

Knoxville wasn’t doing well in this regard, but the downtown addition of Coffee and Chocolate could help boost its cred. At least with us.

If you want to read more about Coffee and Chocolate, Metro Pulse has a more in-depth review. And knoxnews just published a “Random This” video of producer Lauren Spuhler’s visit to the shop.

This is a guest post by Patrick Beeson, a Project Manager for E.W. Scripps Interactive Newspaper Group in Knoxville, TN.