In today’s competitive small business climate, coffee shops have to fight tooth and nail to stand out against other options. Many turn to specialty lattes and drinks, adding in shocking flavors and perfecting their visual presentation to entice customers. We decided to put these crazy drinks to a test and visited four small businesses around Seattle to try and review two drinks each. 

Aroom-

We started off at Aroom in Wallingford, where we tried two of their signature drinks, the Egg Latte and Avocado Latte. We ordered both iced and were told by the cashier that the avocado latte was more of a dessert, and that if we didn’t like it she would gladly remake us something else. Both ran us about 6 dollars, which is frighteningly normal for coffee shops. We rated the Egg latte an 8/10. Upon reflection, I think it was the best tasting coffee I had that day, but we were a little bit disappointed by the lack of egg flavor. It tasted almost entirely like a normal iced latte. The Avocado latte was a straight 2/10. We mixed it with a spoon as we were instructed, but were put off by the visible avocado chunks in the drink. It definitely was not too sweet, and the texture reminded me of baby food and skim milk lazily mixed together. Overall, I have no doubt Aroom’s other drinks are very good judging by the egg latte, but we would not recommend the avocado latte to just about anyone.

Grounds-

Our next stop was Grounds in Shoreline, where we ordered the Pink Hurricane and the Blended Red Bull. The menu consisted of many sweet energy drinks as well as some other sweet coffees. Both drinks came with candy on top, with the Blended Red Bull adorned with pink whipped cream and gold edible powder. It’s easy to say the presentation was a 10/10. As for taste, we rated the Blended Redbull, with mango, peach, and strawberry flavoring, a 9/10. It tasted great and the sweetness wasn’t too overpowering. The Pink Hurricane, a redbull drink with strawberry flavoring and sour straws, was a 7/10. We liked the flavor but thought it was almost too sweet for the portion we were given (which was a lot). Both drinks cost seven dollars each, but with all the candy add-ons, they were 100% worth it.

Coffeehouse-

Next, we headed to the Vietnamese coffee shop, Coffeehouse, in Columbia City and ordered the Tiramisu Egg Latte and the Purple Haze, a specialty ube latte. We rated the Tiramisu Egg Latte a 6/10. The actual coffee was just alright, but the egg cream and lady finger topping kicked it up to a 6. The Purple Haze latte, which we envisioned being a great way to showcase our bulldog pride, was a bit of a letdown. We rated it a 5/10. Although it looked great, the coffee itself was not fantastic and we couldn’t taste the ube at all. Both drinks were around six dollars and didn’t deliver much for their price point. 

Lune Cafe-

Lastly, we stopped by Lune Cafe in Pioneer Square. The cafe is popular for offering different flavor crepes and dubai chocolate strawberries, but also sells many creative lattes and energy drinks. We ordered the Cookie Butter Latte and the Angie, a drink off of the secret menu. The Cookie Butter Latte was a 7/10. It was a good latte, but we didn’t taste the cookie butter much at all. The latte itself was a little on the sweeter side, but not overwhelmingly at all. The Angie we rated an 8/10. With its chocolate milkshake-flavor, it was especially sweet. We couldn’t decide how we felt about the consistency being almost as thin as water, but the flavor was good.