Julia N.
Yelp
Lovely staff, terrible coffee. The coffee and espresso itself - I've had a coffee with milk, and a dry double cappuccino - is dreadful, probably 2-star. I admire that Jack's is doing the organic, fair-trade thing - but much like how organic wine used to be awful, they seemed to be focusing too much on ethics and not enough on flavour.
It's a small little place, but cozy, and they close relatively early (7ish?) which I find a bit inconceivable. The first time I ventured here, it was 30 minutes past closing, and I had walked all the way over in the cold simply to try their coffee. I pleaded my case with them and they consented to give me a large coffee - for free since they'd closed the register - so I tipped them heartily.
The coffee, with milk, was drinkable but overbrewed and acidic, and not quite as crack-addled as I generally like my coffee drinks. Today I had a small cappuccino, with an extra shot, which I asked for dry - this came to a whopping $4.25, btw - and was very disappointed. I usually drink my cappuccinos without sweetener, but the espresso in this was so acrid (overbrewed, bitter, overroasted - blech) I had to add a little raw sugar to make it palatable. And, despite it being a DRY capp, the foam was not particularly plentiful, and while I've had worse, it was a bit on the loose side.
As before, the staff were lovely. They had a decent little tasty-looking pastry assortment, as well as local apples, for sale - I particularly liked the looks of their 'Rosie's chocolate chip cookies', which looked moist, chewy, and fresh. In addition to coffee and espresso drinks (including an intriguing 'honey macchiato') they serve a respectable array of teas, hard cider, and beers.
Overpriced, bad coffee. Alas. Seeing as it's primarily a coffee shop, this an unforgivable flaw; I will not return.