Double Shot: Canyon Café

Walkability/Accessibility: [A+] Canyon is located inside Aspen in the Grove, right across from Trillium. If you’re looking for coffee in the morning and you’re living in the dorms across the Canyon, it doesn’t get any closer (at least not closer than in your room). 

Pricing: [A+/B] Canyon Café is the only coffee shop where you can spend Monopoly money (ahem. Board points.) and as such, it receives a dual rating. If you’re on a meal plan, it’s impossible to beat a place that doesn’t cost real money. If you’re not, everything is still very reasonably priced. 

Coffee Quality (and option variety): [C+] The coffee is made with Umbria’s Gusto Crema roast, which is medium-dark. We ordered a cortado and a lavender latte. The cortado had the right ratio of milk to espresso, and let the coffee shine nicely. This roast is not particularly complex, which is not necessarily a bad thing. It’s completely free of acidity, which is a good thing for cafés that aren’t specialty coffee roasters, as acidity can turn off customers who aren’t expecting it. The lavender latte was well-balanced, and the sweetness pairs well with the bitterness of the roast. 

Food Quality (and Option Variety): [A] Being one of the only cafés that has real food (not just pastries), and the fact that the food is good, makes this an automatic A. The croissant sandwiches and pecan sticky buns are killer. The coffee cake is on the cakey side, which may or may not be to your preference. 

Atmosphere: [B] Canyon has a lively social atmosphere, and you can always find other students studying or hanging out. 

Alternative Drinks:[C]Canyon’s London Fog, made with Numi tea, is flavorful without being overwhelming. Just remember that it needs at least three minutes to steep, and it’s better with lavender syrup. The chai, on the other hand, is overly sweet, and it’s hard to taste anything except the cinnamon. It’s not really to our taste. (I always order it with double concentrate. -Connor)