As we come to a close of the semester, I have decided to reminisce about the coffee experiences I have had throughout the past 10 weeks and provide final opinions about the overall ratings I give each café. As every place was special in it’s own way, and there were truly no last place ratings for a café I visited, some deserve special recognition for certain aspects of their experience. I was able to critique most of the coffee shops on or around campus, and there are only a slim few that I didn’t hold the pleasure of visiting. Therefore, I feel extremely confident in giving out these ratings and place-holdings for the coffee journey I have walked through during the last 11 weeks.

The first category I sought to judge for each place was also one of the more difficult ones, mostly because it relied pretty much entirely on my opinions and experiences: The overall flavor of the coffee. At each place, I bought the exact same type of coffee. I always got a medium cup of the most popular or house blend hot coffee. For the chain restaurants, such as Dunkin, Panera, and Starbucks, I take a strange position on which make my tastebuds happiest. Panera’s coffee was strides better than both Dunkin’ and Starbucks, which compete back and forth for second best flavor based on the day and mood of the customer. As for the other coffee shops on campus, my favorite cup of coffee definitely came from Elixr. It was simply the richest and smoothest of all the smaller shops and makes my mouth water with the thought of another delicious cup.

Secondly, one of the more important categories, I sought to look at price. There was one absolute winner of this bracket, and it was Abba Java Coffeehouse. This amazing place provides free coffee and pastries to students. That’s right, FREE! How can you beat that? However, that seems an unfair matchup, and I also want to look at the other cheap coffee options. Dunkin’ is always a great bargain option for coffee lovers and also is a delicious option on most days. Another runner-up in this category would be Panera coffee, especially when considering their extremely affordable daily coffee subscription, which is $10.99 a month, equaling about $0.30 per coffee cup.

Lastly, I searched for the coffee shop with the best overall ambience. With this, I also want to include location/ convenience and feasibility of access. My overall, top-tiered café that perfectly captured the ambience that is expected when one thinks of the perfect college coffee shop would be Webster’s Bookstore Café. Since I step

ped foot in that shop the second week of school, I have been enamored with its old-school, indie atmosphere and have journeyed back many times. Some honorable mentions in this category are Elixr and Sowers Harvest Café, each of which are well-known for their decor and vibe. However, none of these places are located in convenient locations. Sower’s Harvest Café is the closest to campus, but both Elixr and Webster’s are located deep into he downtown area. If we were to judge based on both ambience and location, I would choose Abba Java Coffeehouse and Panera over all others.

I could not possibly choose the absolute best of all of the coffee shops I visited, as each held their ground in certain respects. The place you choose to get coffee on the daily may differ depending on your wants or needs at the time, especially if you’re simply searching for the cheapest place or the most convenient. I will continue to visit new shops as much as possible and search the town until I can absolutely, for CERTAIN determine what the best coffee shop in State College is. The journey will continue!