If you’re like me, you probably don’t consider yourself truly awake until you’ve had your first cup of coffee (or two) in the morning.  Due to my caffeine addiction, I consider myself one of HC’s top coffee connoisseurs.  Over the past few weeks I’ve sampled many brews all over campus in an effort to find the best. Here’s what I thought:

4. Kimball

Coffee

Photo by Celeste Ferré

Now I usually don’t drink Kimball coffee, but with the current state of my dining dollars, I’ve unfortunately had to resort to drinking it. Let’s just say it takes a lot milk and sugar to make it drinkable for me. The most redeeming factor of Kimball coffee is that its included in our meal plan.

3. Cool Beans

Coffee

Photo by Claire Turner

Cool Beans is known on campus for being everyone’s “go to” place to get coffee and a bagel in the AM before classes.  Because of this, the lines are always super long and it can take up to fifteen minutes until you even order.  On weekdays, I suggest going around 9:30.  Its usually pretty quiet then since most people are in class and the morning rush is somewhat over.  If you overslept and are really late, just use Tapingo and your cup ‘o joe will be waiting for you when you get there.

If you’re a frequent buyer like myself, be sure to pick up a frequent buyer card – buy 9 coffees and your 10th one is free.  And we all know, everyone loves free things – especially broke college kids.  While Cool Beans is definitely better than Kimball, it is still far from being the best coffee shop here on the hill.

2. Science Café

Coffee

Photo by Isabella Cuellar

If you’re like me, you were psyched to find out that the Science Café had recently added large iced coffee to their menu. Science Café has, by far, the best iced coffee here on campus.  I consider it so good that I’ll even walk out of my way to get it some mornings before class. Adding a splash of their vanilla or hazelnut flavored creamers instead of a flavor shot saves you $0.50 every time, which does add up.

 1. CB2

Coffee

Image courtesy of giphy.com

CB2 is definitely my favorite place to get coffee on campus. There is just something about their vanilla coffee that almost makes morning classes bearable.  Or maybe its just that Angela gets my mid morning caramel lattes right every single time. #blesshersoul Not only is their coffee the best, their Iced Chai Latté is definitely worth raving about as well.

One of the great things about CB2, is that it is located right in Stein, making it incredibly simple to grab something quick right before class, or in between classes. While the line can get long in between classes, make sure you leave yourself enough time to get your morning cup of coffee and still get to class on time.

Best Coffee on Campus

After trying many, many different types of coffee from the four different locations across campus I have discovered what I believe to be the best coffee here at Holy Cross! *drum roll* The best coffee here on campus is the Cafe Blend at CB2! Quite honestly, this drink gets me through my morning classes with enough energy left over to power me through my grueling afternoon track practices.  With CB2’s wide range of different flavor shots and creamers, I assure you’ll be able to customize your drink however you like.