Unless you’re living under a rock, you’ve probably noticed by now that we are smack dab in the middle of autumn, and the temperatures are starting to cool down. I personally hate cold weather, and the only way I can tolerate fall and winter is with a warm drink in hand. With that in mind, I decided to venture over to one of the few local coffee shops that I had yet to try, Coffee Slingers Roasters.
Coffee Slingers is located in an old brick building in automobile alley, and overall it had sort of a ‘cozy’ vibe, similar to Classen Coffee. As winter quickly approaches, I can totally see myself ducking in here to escape the cold, ordering something warm and curling up in the corner for hours. I will note that it was actually relatively noisy when I was there, so I probably wouldn’t come here for a study session, but this might be a nice spot to just hang with friends or just to relax by myself. One thing I did notice and appreciate was their attempt to reduce single-use waste. For instance, instead of plastic or wooden stirring sticks, they had actual metal spoons for you to use. Also, unless you ordered something to go, they served it in a ceramic mug instead of something disposable. I love it when businesses try to make themselves more environmentally sustainable, so this was a huge plus for me.
The last thing I’ll say about the location is the parking is horrible. The parking directly in front of the store is parallel parking only (A.K.A. my nightmare). There are a few more traditional parking spots nearby, but since this is downtown, it’s difficult to find one that is open.
The menu at Coffee Slingers is really no frills. When I was there, I noticed there were only two specialty drinks being offered: a pumpkin spice latte and an herbal latte. The rest of the menu was filled with very basic offerings such as an espresso, an americano and a cappuccino. They also didn’t have many non-coffee options, and my tea-loving soul was very sad to discover they don’t even offer chai tea. So I just sucked it up and ordered a latte. From their menu, I got the sense they really emphasize the quality of their coffee beans as opposed to trying to get customers’ attention with sugary drinks and fancy flavorings. The prices were also between $2-$4.50, which I think is pretty standard for many coffee shops. However, I probably wouldn’t stop here every day for a morning coffee because I can easily see those costs adding up over time, and I am just a broke college student.
When I got my latte, I was pleasantly surprised at the aesthetically pleasing latte art it had going on. The little heart that was drawn in my drink was so unexpectedly cute that it took a great amount of willpower not to whip out my phone and post a picture of it onto my Instagram story. As for the actual taste, it tasted like a pretty standard latte to me. Now, I would take my opinion with a grain of salt because I really don’t drink enough coffee to tell the difference between high-quality coffee and average coffee. As someone who gets paid to give their opinions of food and drink, I should be able to tell the difference, but I just can’t. It wasn’t bad by any means, but I didn’t taste anything special about it, and it kind of made me wish I had a specialty drink from Starbucks instead.
Overall, I think Coffee Slingers has a really nice atmosphere, but when it comes to the drinks, it depends upon your preferences. If you’re really into coffee and you can tell the difference between higher and lower quality coffee, then I would totally recommend Coffee Slingers to you. If you’re like me and you find it difficult to stomach anything that isn’t overly flavored, then this might not be the place for you. Hopefully I’ll find the perfect new coffee shop before it starts getting snowy, but for now, I think I’m going to stick with my chai lattes from Starbucks.
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