On Nov. 14, SweetBeans Coffee finally opened its doors to the public. This is the textbook definition of a cozy coffee shop. Walk straight in, and you are welcomed with smiles, house music and delicious smells. They not only have a drive-through, but on the inside they have countless places to sit, such as barstools and window-side seating.
With over 30 drink options and many different bakery items, the menu is full of possibilities, so you can always find something, no matter your mood. I was accompanied by Millard South’s In-Depth Editor, Zoe Freshman, to help me narrow down the endless menu items.
The ordering process was swift. They asked for our names and got the drinks/food out to us very quickly. As for bakery items, they give you the choice to heat them, which adds short of another five minutes to the order. With that, the baristas are friendly, and they offer warm greetings and amazing service.
Freshman got a medium Iced Chai with coconut milk which she described as phenomenal. The drink is an Indian-style chai, and not the pre-sweetened packages you can find in stores. Some would say that this chai is even better than Starbucks, earning a rating of 4.5/5, which was a delightful surprise.
As for me, I got a medium Iced Mocha Latte with vanilla cold foam. It was mixed well and tasted unreal. All the different tastes blended perfectly. The amount of ice in a medium was perfect, and instead of filling the brim to the top, there was still lots of room for the drink itself. This was definitely worth its $6. It blew my expectations out of the water, getting a rating of 5/5, which can be expected for the rest of their lattes.
We wanted to try more things off the menu since the first two were amazing, so Freshman and I decided to try a smoothie and a bakery item. First, we tried the fudge brownie, which wasn’t necessarily our favorite. They gave us the option to reheat it (which we took), and we believe that is the reason we didn’t like it. It tasted very strongly of butter and smelled chalky. Nevertheless, for $4 the size. of it was huge. With it being the only bakery item we tried, neither freshman nor I can say how the rest of the items tasted. The sizes of all of them were larger than expected and looked very promising so our brownie rating of 1/5 can’t be said about the rest of the food.
We also tried the Tropical Smoothie, and it was very good. It could have been blended a little better, with some fruit chunks, but it still tasted amazing. This was probably a solid 3.5/5. As most places just use a powder mix, we were shocked to learn that it was made of real fruit, which, in our opinion, made the smoothie taste better.
Overall, SweetBeans coffee amazed us. From their amazing service to their fantastic drinks, we couldn’t have had a better experience. To anyone looking for a place to do work or simply to get coffee this is the spot for you. With tastes the same as big franchises (or better), for lower prices, I couldn’t think of a better place and I definitely will be back.
