By Brooke Schultz
News Editor
Like most college students (or just basic individuals), I’m an avid coffee drinker, but when I’m away from the Wawa-nation of the New Jersey-Pennsylvania area, a girl has to branch out.
So, I did the unadvisable, and I tested four different cups of coffee in one day. Each cup came from a storefront located on High Street and, using the criteria I found from a quick Google search, I ranked them.
In the interest of fairness, I bought a small regular coffee from each café and, because I like my cream and sugar with a little bit of coffee, I fixed them all the same for comparison. Just Right Treats
J.R.’s latest restaurant venture, a bakery tucked right between the piano bar and J.R.’s Pub, features a lot of sweet treats, ice cream, and coffee, of course.
I’m not sure it was their strong suit, but the coffee definitely was strong. While it did have aromatic and complex favoring, it was a bit intense and on the bitter side, bordering on tasting a bit sour. The aftertaste was fast-fading, but not aromatically empty.
The small cup cost $1 and was one of the larger cups.
I give Just Right Treats’ coffee a three out of five.
Evergrain
This was not only the weakest cup, but also the smallest cup for the highest price. The 8 ounce cup cost $1.96.
The coffee was relatively thin in consistency with a bitter aftertaste. I usually get the fancier drinks from Evergrain and, by comparison, the coffee fell short and lacked substantial notes, feeling relatively simple and faded.
Evergrain’s plain coffee gets a two out of five.
Dunkin’ Donuts
This was the only franchise on the block, so I had to try it for reference. Dunkin’ is the only store that filled the cup for me, but they also add their own cream and sugar, so tread carefully if you don’t like sweet coffee. Because of the healthy heaping of sweetener, the coffee had no bitterness. No sour aftertaste and rich flavoring. All-in-all, it was pretty bland and unexciting, so of course it was one of my favorites.
It cost $1.59 and was the second smallest cup.
Dunkin’s average coffee gets a four out of five.
Play It Again, Sam
This was my favorite cup of coffee from the independently owned stores. The flavor was not overbearing and had a smooth consistency. The flavoring was simple, but it wasn’t too bitter. Its natural sweetness made it richer and did not leave a bitter aftertaste.
The cup was the largest of the group, and came in at $1.80.
Play It Again, Sam was my preferred coffee of the lot, so it gets a five out of five.
Regular coffee is obviously the cheaper way to go when visiting any of the café locations on High Street, but for some locations, it’s better to go with the fancy lattes instead.