I was assigned to go to multiple coffee shops around the local area. I was impressed with a few places. The selections of coffees and the atmosphere. Here are my findings.
Caribou Coffee
This is a highly traffic coffee shop since it is on a college campus. There are multiple tables in the vicinity for students to study. Usually have a long line for drinks. The audience is mostly college kids and professors. My experience was a decent one. I was able to get through the line and get my coffee within 20 minutes. The staff was nice and accommodating. It seemed there were too many baristas working in a small space. I got a drip coffee dark roast. It was ok. More potent when it was scalding hot. When the coffee cooled, it had a different taste.
Cafe Milo
The audience for Cafe Milo is mostly college students but they do get the occasional family. They have a rustic feel with exposed ceilings and a double sided fireplace in the middle of the cafe. They offer plenty of seating and outlets at the high top bar. It was a casual place. No aprons just t shirts and jeans or black pants for the baristas. I ordered the pour over coffee which was delicious. It had great flavor and did not leave a bad taste in my mouth. They also offered multiple teas. The only negative was the dim lighting. It made me want to sleep instead of work on homework.
Burgie’s Coffee
I though it would be appropriate to check out the place my class would be “rebranding.” When I visited, it was 9 am on a Friday. The crowd was older people, business people, and then me. I noticed the people going through the drive through were of the younger era. My experience was great. The men upfront were very helpful. Since I just got the drip coffee, the service was pretty fast. Atmosphere was chill even though it is connected to a gas station and bank. They also had exposed ceiling and more of a rustic feel the whole place. The only bad thing was they only had two low counters and there was not a lot of room to see them do a pour over. It was a nice place to get homework done though.
Unfortunately I was unable to visit any cool coffee shops over spring break. My group did stop at multiple Starbucks though.
Starbucks Tennessee
I was not overly impressed with Starbucks but then again I never am. I had there dark roast coffee and did not like it. The atmosphere was geared towards middle aged working people. The service was ok. It did not seem like they knew much about coffee. they were more worried about getting me through the line then really educated me about coffee.
Starbucks Alabama
We stopped at a Starbucks inside of a Target before heading back to Iowa. Again not overly impressed with the service here. I simply got the medium roast coffee. Which I discovered I like a lot more than the dark or light roast. My friend ordered a drink and ended up getting the wrong one. They were pretty busy. Since it was inside of a Target there wasn’t a lot of seating or waiting area which made it cramped while waiting for drinks. I was able to get a cute mug though from the travel collection. Not a huge Starbucks fan but this is a cute idea.
I do have one more place to visit since I have to be home for an interview. There is a local roaster in Peosta, Iowa called Verena Street. I hope to visit there vicinity after my interview and enjoy a Cow Tipper Pour over. I will be posting that tomorrow!
nicolerosewhite 