When it comes to college, coffee is a must.
How else would we be able to do as much as we do—let alone function at all—on such minimal sleep? Coffee was basically invented to fuel sleep-deprived and overwhelmed college students with not enough time in the day to do everything. Seriously, if you didn’t come into Cornell with a caffeine addiction, expect that you’ll graduate with one along with your degree.
As important to the coffee itself is where you procure it. Here at Cornell, we are fortunate enough to have many campus cafés to fuel all of our caffeine needs. And if you’re an avid coffee drinker, chances are you have your own opinions about which coffee places are the best—and which ones should be avoided at all costs.
Best Coffee (in general): Café Jennie
I feel like no one talks enough about how great Café Jennie is, so let’s be clear: Café Jennie coffee is GREAT. Like, it blows my mind how a place with such great coffee can be so underrated. One of the newer additions to the campus coffee scene, Jennie is your one and only on-campus source for Peet’s Coffee, which is the perfect balance between the intensity of Gimme! and the more conventional Starbucks blend.
Location-wise, it’s probably the most central of all the java joints—unless you basically live on the Ag or Engineering Quads—but it’s not quite the scene that Libe and Manndibles impart. Also, no matter how complicated the order (and I know complicated orders), the drinks always come out fast. Add that to the chocolate croissants that pair oh-so nicely, and you really couldn’t ask for more.
Most Generic: Libe/Nasty’s
Libe and Nasty’s are grouped together because they both serve the same Starbucks blends and are those both #basic. Libe is generally pretty great, but if you’re being honest with yourself, you don’t come here for the coffee. You come here because it’s a total scene, because it upped its snack game this semester and because it’s the most convenient if your second bedroom is in the stacks. It’s the Starbucks of Cornell cafés, right down to the beans, and you’ve only convinced yourself that your pumpkin spice latte from here is anything close to the real thing because it’s just kinda…there.
As far as Nasty’s goes, it should, in theory, be equally as good as Libe. And yet, there’s just something about it that just isn’t quite right. It’s probably fine if you’re a freshman living on North and all you need is a jumpstart in the morning. But beyond that, this coffee just isn’t good, and inexplicably so. I mean, how is it that it serves the same Starbucks blends that most of the other cafés, and yet here it just goes so wrong? Stick to mozz sticks, Nasty’s.
Best Specialty Drinks: Manndibles
Mann coffee rocks. The drinks from here are consistently amazing and their seasonal and monthly specials are always creative. Favorites include the Nut Hatch, Hummingbird and, of course, the peppermint hot chocolate. Plus, the staff here are super nice and always accommodating to special requests; if you’re lucky, they’ll write your name for you in the foam (I have not been so lucky yet). Manndibles loses the top spot partly because of its $10 credit card limit and refusal to accept BRBs. However, you can buy gift cards to help fund your coffee addiction—a great idea, especially if you spend the same amount on coffee as you do on your tuition.
Best Variety: CTB
I’m 90% sure I based my decision to go to Cornell on how much I love CTB and its coffee. Even though it isn’t technically on-campus, CTB has certainly earned its place as a Cornellian caffeine favorite. There are literally millions (read: probably more like hundreds) of coffee drinks to choose from. CTB changes the drink choices each season to keep things ~fresh~, but if you you can still get your favorite seasonal drinks even after they change the board. Shout-outs go to the Piper, the Don Draper and the Big Foot. Beware of the Java Jolt, unless you want to be awake for the rest of your life.
Sassiest Baristas: Goldie’s
OK, the coffee from here is pretty good, and somehow better than Libe and Nasty’s who use the exact same Starbucks beans. The baristas here, however, are super nice but total sass masters. No joke, on more than one occasion when I’ve ordered my drink of choice here, I have been laughed at by one or more Goldie’s employees. Yes, it may be a complicated order; and yes it may or may not involved a steamed milk alternative and syrup flavoring (I’m a jap, sue me). But that’s not the kind of judgment you want before you’ve had your morning coffee. Other than that, multiple thumbs up.
Fanciest Coffee: Gimme! in Gates Hall
If you’re not an engineer and bold enough to brave the super high-techness of Gates Hall, then this pop-up is definitely worth the intimidation. The coffee is seriously great, and and has a much more robust flavor than most other on-campus locations. A little strong for my taste—I was shaking from my caffeine high for hours afterwards—but it totally explains how your CS-major roommate stays up until five AM doing problem sets. One thing I must mention, however, is that they use an iPad to process your order that I could tell was really fancy and high-tech because it was also really confusing. (I mentioned this to the barista and she promptly told me they have one at all Gimme! stations.) It may have honestly the biggest test of my intelligence at Cornell to date.
Underrated: Bus Stop Bagels
It actually never occurred to me that Bus Stop Bagels would have coffee because…the name only advertises bagels. But sure enough, you can get coffee here and it’s actually not bad! Bus Stop coffee also earns bonus points because you can get real food here. And there’s nothing quite like a dope bagel to bring out the best in your brew.
Grossest Coffee: Temple of Zeus/Statler Library
The coffee at both of these places is so gross that they almost aren’t even worth mentioning. Not sure why anyone would get coffee at Statler when they could walk across the street and get coffee from Café Jennie. As for Temple of Zeus, I didn’t even know they served coffee, but now I do and I wish I didn’t. The coffee here is so beyond weird. If this is the coffee they serve on Mount Olympus, I shudder to think what it tastes like at Temple of Hades*.
(*Note: Cannot confirm if this is a place that exists.)
With so many cafés, brews, blends and drinks to choose from, the Cornell coffee game is similar to how we Cornellians like our coffee: strong AF. So no matter your preference, it’s likely that there is a café on campus for you.
