It's absolutely sweltering, and it's mid-afternoon doldrums time. Halfway between downtown and the Eastside, on South Pleasantburg Drive, it appears that there is no refreshment in sight. But wait. That (relatively) new Forest Park Shopping Center (the one with The Fresh Market) is home to another relatively new coffee shop. Think a nice iced latte or simple chilled green tea, and you see where this is going.
You'd be wrong though.
At Coffee & Crema, you'll never get anything "nice" or "simple." But you also won't get anything short of outstanding.
As one customer steps up to place an order for tea, slightly apologetic for making special requests, the barista replies with a smile, "Complicated is what we do," then proceeds to give a guided tour of selecting tea leaves and herbs, sweetening, and brewing. The entire concoction takes some time, but when it's ready, the customer is more than satisfied.
The rest of the clientele fill small tables along one wall of the shop. Many of them sip from tumblers filled with a frothy pink drink that looks very much like a cocktail. The owner, Shannon Hudgens, explains that his latest creation is "a rosemary-thyme-blueberry-infused lemonade, based on the basil-thyme drink I made last summer at the mall location." There is no caffeine, but the delicate sweetness offers a smooth boost of sipping pleasure. He thinks a minute and christens it "rosemary-thyme-ade," noting that he took inspiration from Imbibe, "the magazine of liquid culture."
Like Coffee & Crema's slogan, the drink is "spellbinding and totally unexpected," especially at a coffee shop. Still, coffee is their main business, and in addition to serving brews that have had "the best start in life," they don't do blends, and they don't add flavors. Plus, they only buy fair trade.
But rest assured that even the most basic request is handled with the utmost care. To wit: an iced coffee at any other shop would send the barista into the fridge — where a gallon jug of already-brewed (and indeterminate vintage) coffee resides — and she would slug it into a plastic cup and pop a lid on. At Coffee & Crema, each cup is brewed individually as if it were an Americano. Then, sweetener is added while the liquid is hot (read: no collection of crunchy crystals in the bottom of the cup), and the whole thing is poured carefully over ice.
Bring the kinder and sample the milkshakes. The caramel variety comes with artfully laced swirls of sauce around the sides of a rich, creamy, very drinkable shake. Chocoholics will appreciate the fact that Coffee & Crema makes its own chocolate to flavor iced treats by mixing Omanhene single-bean natural cocoa powder from Africa with vanilla, raw sugar, and a dash of salt.
So when you're hankering for a fix for the afternoon slump, Coffee & Crema is a comfortable place to get your buzz on. And if you're heeding the AM wake-up call of a cuppa joe, you'll be rewarded with an extraordinary morning brew.
Say It Loud!
Write a Review. Get Published.
Start your Review