Students really are a simple market. After cramming for exams, papers and presentations, all we really want is a hot drink and a soft seat. Coffee shops know this universal human truth, so it’s no wonder students can find a variety around campus. But if we’re so easy to please, how do some shops manage to rise above the rest?
INNOVATIVE AMENITIES
New to Downtown, the people at Post Office Coffee and Cowork are eager to find and foster their community. The beans for their coffee come from Atlanta’s own Radio Roasters. According to manager Siglinda Riley, local producers make up all of the sparkling waters, tea, and kombucha, as well as all the other wonderful extras a coffee shop can offer. They even host a local produce pop up market, Luke and Letty.
But they’re more than a local coffee shop; they are a meeting and coworking venue. With several meeting rooms and common areas, not to mention Google fiber Wi-Fi, they’re prepared for just about every kind of crowd you could imagine. The cowork space sees a wide variety in its use.
“We have artists, we have people that work at the city buildings,” Riley said. “Book signings, all kinds of things.”
ATTENTION TO TRADITION
If you want traditionally Italian style coffee made from some exceptional beans, Condesa Coffee is the way to go. They source the beans from Counter Culture Coffee, who trains the baristas all in house.
According to Condessa barista Will McKenzie, the training is rigorous.
“They like us to be very consistent, even when it comes to temperature,” McKenzie said. “They’d have us steam 10 pitchers of milk at a time and they all had to be within like two degrees of each other.”
A PERSONAL TOUCH
Perhaps the favorite on campus, Ebrik Coffee Room is full of character. It is marvelous that a place with such industrial furnishing affects such warmth.
The coffee comes from the Land of a Thousand Hills, an Atlanta roasterie. The owners of Ebrik want to start roasting their own beans in house at the downtown store, but at this point, that still requires more planning.
Barista Farah Mohamoud, known as YP in the shop, said the management of Land of a Thousand Hills has been surprisingly helpful in exchanging knowledge on roasting.
The baristas at Ebrik are energetic and eclectic. According to YP, they are allowed and encouraged to develop autonomy and discretion as they make drinks, with each barista producing an original style.
“Please make it correctly, but if you want to do something differently, you have full freedom to do that,” YP said. “Some people make their drinks sweeter than others but some customers like their drinks sweeter than others. It’s one of those things where some people make better drinks for a customer than others.”
