As the holiday season rapidly approaches, three local coffee shops: Mad Goat Coffee, Caffé Bene and Espresso Royale have come out with their seasonal menus. Each cafe brings something unique to its menus, with the three menus creating a delightful array of seasonal treats and beverages. Over the past week, I visited these businesses and tried one item from each seasonal menu. I will be giving my reviews on the beverages that I tried, as well as an overview of each place’s seasonal menu.
Mad Goat Coffee
57 E. Main St. Champaign
The first place I visited was Mad Goat Coffee. Their holiday specials menu consists of three main items: the candy cane latte, the white Christmas steamer, the eggnog latte. The candy cane latte consists of coffee with peppermint and vanilla syrup with crushed candy cane on top. The white Christmas steamer is a white hot chocolate with marshmallows, and the eggnog latte is a hot coffee with eggnog, with a chai option available as well. I went for the eggnog latte, but got it iced instead of hot and with no espresso. However, I was very surprised that it looked like there was still coffee in there. It tasted very good, honestly better than I expected. I would rate it a 10/10; I would come back to get this drink.
Espresso Royale
Various locations
The next place I stopped at was Espresso Royale. Their seasonal menu consists of the peppermint frozen matcha, peppermint bark mocha, peppermint swirl cold brew, frosted gingerbread matcha and creme brulee latte. I decided to give the peppermint bark mocha a try, but decided to get a blended version of it. I really enjoy the combination of peppermint and mocha, which is why I had high hopes for it. Though the coffee was a bit too strong for me, I liked it overall. There was a lot of peppermint flavor, although I would have preferred a more prominent mocha flavor. I would rate this drink an 8.5/10.
Caffé Bene
700 S. Gregory St. Urbana
524 E. Green St. Champaign
My last stop was Caffé Bene. Their seasonal menu boasts a large variety of items, similar to Espresso Royale. It consists of the tiramisu latte, the toasted marshmallow mocha, the pumpkin spice latte, the mint mocha, the mint hot chocolate and the pumpkin cheesecake. I tried the mint hot chocolate, which was amazing. It tasted like Christmas in a cup with its perfect balance of sweet and minty flavors. I would rate this drink a 10/10.
Each of these local cafes offer a unique twist on their holiday menus, ensuring that there is something for everyone to enjoy this festive season. However, I did feel like Caffé Bene had the most diverse menu, with a wide variety of both coffee and non-coffee beverages. This is something that I appreciate, as someone who is not a coffee lover but still enjoys going to coffee shops. That being said, ordering from the seasonal menus from any of these three coffee shops will be a great way to make your holiday season a little more tasty.
- All pictures taken by Sarah Jacobson ↩︎