Rachel S.
Yelp
I want to be fair here because I love small businesses and want me criticism to be constructive. I'm also aware I am very much a coffee snob. I'd go 3.5/5 if I could but we'll round up for the benefit of the doubt as this is still an up and coming business.
Upon walking in, we were greeted with a very warm welcome and given ample time to review the menu before being asked what we'd like to order. The barista on register was very sweet- she complimented me on my pregnancy and immediately mentioned that they offer decaf if I wanted it (courteous, but your girl needed caffeine that day). The conversation, thoughtfulness, and intentionality was great, so customer service-wise, our experience was 10/10.
My friend is a Dutch girly through an through and loves her scorched beans and dessert drinks, so her iced sf vanilla latte met every need she had.
I had the pregnancy coffee ick so although I'd typically prefer black drip or a simple latte, I went with an iced oat milk dirty vanilla chai to hit a chai craving that day. After asking about the chai mix they use and being a barista myself, I knew the portions it calls for are too sweet for my liking, so I asked the barista to make the drink half sweet (the drink on the menu also comes standard with vanilla added, so I REALLY wanted it half sweet knowing that they would be adding vanilla syrup to the already sweetened chai and sweetened oat milk). The drinks came out a few minutes later and, like I said, my friend loved hers so if you're into Dutch/SBucks, you'll be just dandy. But mine, unfortunately, was way too sweet for me to drink. I'm hoping they just forgot to make it half sweet, so that the standard isn't actually double the amount of sugar that was in mine, but regardless, it was overwhelmingly sugary. I had about 4 sips to try to adapt and grow a liking for it, but just couldn't get there. It was the kind of sweet that tingles the back of your gums. I could taste that espresso had been added, but it was so faint that either the shot was way over extracted and watered down that it was overpowered, or the flavor and chai added just masked it almost entirely. Due to this, I can't provide much commentary on the espresso itself. The machine on bar was a brand I was unfamiliar with, and I couldn't gauge where they source their beans from solely based off the menu and what I could see of the bar.
This shop aesthetic is cute and chic, and it appears as though it wants to be regarded as specialty coffee over something similar to Dutch/sbucks, so if ownership is willing, I'd highly recommend brewing and barista classes through IBCA/Patrick O'Malley over at Infusion Coffee & Tea in Tempe. The training is well worth the price and reward.
Best of luck to this business! Hoping to come back at a later date to see improvement and growth because I want to see this black, female owned business thrive.
