Spring is finally in the air in Happy Valley, and I don’t know about you, but for me that means one thing: it’s officially iced coffee season. Nothing can compare to a nice, refreshing iced coffee on a hot day walking around in downtown State College.
For all of you Penn Staters who are as obsessed with getting your caffeine on as I am, here is a definitive ranking of the top four places to get your fix based on four characteristics: convenience, taste, and price.
4. Au Bon Pain
Photo Courtesy of Flickr User m01229
Convenience: 4/5
Price: 3/5
Taste: 2/5
Au Bon Pain boasts a fantastic selection of pastries and sandwiches, but unfortunately its iced coffee does not meet the high standards set by the rest of its menu. While it’s a convenient place to stop, especially if you have class on the West or North side of campus, its limited selection of iced coffee flavors, combined with its sometimes chaotic self-serve system, clocks it in as the least tasty of the coffee options.
3. Irvings
Photo by Alexandra Jubault
Convenience: 3/5
Price: 2/5
Taste: 4/5
Irving’s is an ideal spot to grab a breakfast sandwich; however, the price of their iced beverages was a deal breaker for me, as well as their lack of actual iced coffee selections. If you want a specialty iced latter or mocha at a higher price, this is the place to be, but for all you straight coffee lovers out there, Irving’s is not for you.
2. Dunkin’ Donuts
Photo Courtesy of Flickr User Megan
Convenience: 3/5
Price: 5/5
Taste: 4/5
Featuring a large selection of flavors and coffees, along with reasonable prices, Dunkin Donuts is a great place to get iced coffee and an extremely close runner-up to our winner. However, its single downtown location sets it back on the convenience scale (petition for more downtown Dunkin’ Donuts, anyone?)
1. Starbucks
Photo by Alexandra Jubault
Convenience: 5/5
Price: 4/5
Taste: 4/5
Aaaand our winner is…. STARBUCKS! My personal favorite place to get iced coffee is an on-campus and downtown staple. This coffee shop is literally at every turn, whether you’re in the bookstore, inthe HUB, on East College or on West College — Starbucks will be there.
Surprisingly, ordering a regular iced coffee only comes in at about two to three dollars, which is a pretty reasonable price. To top it all off, Starbucks has a great variety of flavors and even a fabulous new cold brew offering you can try. Plus, I don’t know about you, but I get the greatest caffeine buzz after I down a Starbucks iced coffee.
Wherever you go to get this warm weather drink of choice, State College and Penn State’s campus are full of places to get fantastic iced coffee. With finals approaching, I highly recommend you to try them all (probably multiple times, tbh).
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