Blog Feed – Page 2 – Grad Student – The Ultimate Coffee Connoisseur

Coffee Emporium (Hyde Park)

Before I even came to Cincinnati, Coffee Emporium was on my list of places to visit. Now why it took me a year to visit, I don’t know. My first impression, this place was hopping. For it being the first week of K-12 school, I was impressed with how many people were walking about mid-day.

Coffee Emporium’s menu offers a wide variety of coffees and teas, including many specialty coffee drinks. I ventured from my usual plain black coffee, since it was finals week, and got a cold brew with almond milk.

Cold brew coffee is always one of my first recommendations for those that are interested in coffee, but don’t like the acidity & bitterness that can come with a drip brew. It’s like that saying, all good things take time; when I make cold brew I let it steep for at least 48 hours. Coffee Emporium’s cold brew was not quite as strong as I typically make mine, but it did have the “sweet” factor to be expected. Overall, pretty good cold brew, although, I’d probably ask for less ice next time, as that watered it down a bit.

I initially sat at their tables upstairs. That given day there was a lot of people conducting meetings and study groups. I realized I was at the high school hangout of the neighborhood….it’s fine, even though I’m working on my doctorate, I apparently still look like I’m in high school so I guess I fit in just fine. After a couple hours upstairs, I got cold so I decided to move to their nice outdoor seating area. They have tons of tables outdoors and a cute little courtyard set-up out back. It was much more conducive to studying AND I got to enjoy the outdoors.

While I don’t think this is the best place for hard-core studying, I think it’s the perfect place to meet up with friends or hang out and enjoy a cup of coffee!

Yes, this photo quality is great, I know. On another note, for all of you peanut butter loving folks, 100% not me, that mocha is probably all you’ve ever dreamed about.

BLOC

The first up, a coffee shop that’s more like it’s own community. You walk in & you immediately feel like you’ve found a new group of friends. This is the kind of place where people seem to know everyone. You can come here for a cup of coffee, trivia night, or some delicious food. One down-side is that for those of us students, it can be difficult to concentrate with so many people talking. I’ve found some of the best study times are after 2 pm during the week & before 4 PM on Fridays & Saturdays.

Their coffee is top-notch. They brew Deeper Roots Coffee & always have a great selection of roasts. I highly suggest their daily brew which you can get in a variety of sizes. They have a punch card, so if you’re unlike me & actually remember to give it to them when you order, you can rack up punches for free coffee pretty quickly. Their non-daily brew can be quite expensive, but I’ve not had a bad daily brew so I’d say that’s a safe choice to stick with.

The best part about BLOC? Probably the food….beer cheese & pretzels, ham & egg croissant, waffles; the options fulfill whatever you could be hungry for. I got the ham & egg croissant on a whim because I was hungry, but was being very productive & didn’t want to leave; it has become my go-to food there as of recent. Perfectly seasoned ham & fried egg on a flaky croissant. I’m not usually a fan of fried eggs so that’s saying a lot.

This is one of my go-to spots for many reasons. I don’t think I’ve ever been there and not seen a dog stop by, the coffee is magnificent, & in their less busier times it’s a great study spot. Their mission is also super awesome & totally something I love to support (go check ’em out to learn what they’re all about)! It’s one of those places that’s kind of out of the way, especially if you aren’t on the west-side, but totally worth the trip!

Why trust my coffee judgement?

We all love coffee right? Actually, false, I didn’t drink coffee until 3-4 years ago. So why trust my coffee judgement? For starters, I’m in grad school….that alone certifies me to be a very trustworthy coffee critic I’d say. Nothing like balancing school, work, exercise, and a life all at once; it almost requires coffee.

“I need coffee” – DPT students everywhere, like every 10 minutes

My first summer in Cincinnati, 3 new coffee shops opened up, so naturally I had to visit all of them. From there I decided I might as well track where I’ve been and what I thought of each place. It says a lot that I am a “regular” at multiple coffee shops. It may be slightly embarrassing that multiple baristas at a variety of coffee shops within a 30-minute radius of Cinci know my name and order, but hey, that shows I study a lot right?

What happens when you haven’t had enough coffee… Ft. my headphones that are no longer. Don’t drop your headphones in your hot coffee, it doesn’t work out well.

So how do I decide the best of the best? First off, I go to coffee shops to study, so the environment is a major contributing factor. You can have great coffee, but if there’s no internet or seating that’s an issue. Coffee shops have a certain power to make me focus…so I have become quite good at searching out the best of the best. The mix of people walking about plus some background noise produce my favorite kind of study atmosphere.

But what’s going to a coffee shop without the coffee? So yes, that also is a key aspect of each review. While I tend to stick to a lighter roast, I often go with whatever is the daily brew. Again, grad school, my budget is limited to the basics. No fancy additives or specialty drinks, those are celebratory post-test drinks only, plain ole coffee 95% of the time.

What else factors in? Parking and cute animals. It is Cincinnati, so parking can be a major issue depending on the part of town. This could mean lack of places to park, having to pay, or safety of the area. Paying for parking is okay occasionally, but I look for the places where you can park and walk or that have their own parking lots. And cute animals, that says enough on its own. If there’s lots of animals walking about (dogs, bunnies, etc) that makes studying a lot happier. I heard something about a llama near one coffee shop, so we’ll all figure out soon enough if that’s actually true or if it’s just a marketing scheme.

This bunny lives at a Cincinnati coffee shop…stay tuned to find out where!

Great, now you can learn about all of the cool places I’ve visited and where you should go find your next cup of coffee.