Creama
By Nelly Alonso, Contributing Writer
Creama is a small, trendy café located in downtown Long Beach. The shop has local artists’ paintings on its walls accompanied by soft lighting and alternative and classic rock playing in the background.
Students looking for a small, quiet atmosphere will find this suiting to their needs. They can choose from the couches or the tables with laminated foreign currency on top. Creama offers a variety of hot and cold drinks, pastries, panini and beer.
Students can take advantage of free Wi-Fi and two hours of free parking in the structure or on the street. “The brain,” one of the café’s hot drink specials, is a combination of strong and sweet flavors pleasing to the taste buds.
Creama has a Facebook and Twitter so customers can find daily specials, such as $1 small lattes on Tuesdays. Owner, Susana Prego, said the café dies down around 2 p.m. until closing while morning and lunchtime is busier.
Creama is open everyday from 7 a.m. until 6 p.m. located at 440 Pine Ave.
Hot Java
By Nelly Alonso, Contributing Writer
Hot Java is a spacious coffeehouse with plenty of room for students. It’s relatively quiet and offers free Wi-Fi. There are plasma TVs, multi-outlet plugs for laptops and tables, desks and couches to use.
Customers can purchase regular or large-sized drinks with regular-sized cold drinks starting around $3.65 and small hot drinks starting at $2.50. People can enjoy either pastries or panini as well. A variety of music plays throughout the coffee house but not loud enough to be a distraction. If it gets too crowded inside customers can sit outside and enjoy outdoor heating.
Hot Java is open Sunday through Thursday from 6 a.m. to 11 p.m. and Friday and Saturday 6 a.m. to midnight. Hot Java is located at 2101 E. Broadway Ave.
Daily Perks
By Nelly Alonso, Contributing Writer
Daily Perks is the one-stop coffee shop for a cheap cup of coffee to go. The shop is mostly to-go style with little seating for customers to sit inside or out. Their busiest times are 11 a.m. to 2 p.m. between students from the local high school and people on their way to work.
Daily Perks serves hot and cold coffee drinks, juice, bagels, pastries and sandwiches. Some of the more frequently ordered items are the iced frappacino and the café mocha. Parking is convenient with the parking lot available and residential neighborhoods nearby. This probably isn’t the best place to study due to lack of tables and the loud high school students from 3 to 5 p.m.
Daily Perks is open from 6 a.m. to 6 p.m. everyday and is located at 4406 E. 7th St.
Polly’s
By Patrick Moreno, Staff Writer
Polly’s coffeehouse is a rustic, Long Beach- landmark that has been in business since 1976.
Specialized roasts of many different beans are available, as well as the popular gift sets that Polly’s sells to a big online customer base. Just for the holidays, customers can also order a holiday special menu that includes drinks like eggnog.
Polly’s is open Monday through Saturday from 6 a.m. to 8 p.m. and Sundays from 7 a.m. to 8 p.m. and is located at 4606 E. 2nd St.
The Daily Grind
By Patrick Moreno, Staff Writer
The Daily Grind is hard to miss at the intersection of Pacific Coast Highway and 7th. It sports a giant doughnut on top.
The DG doesn’t have a large menu, but everything on it is less than five dollars, and delicious.
DG was awarded the “Roaster of the Year” award by Roast magazine last year, and the certificate hangs in one of the two drive-thru windows available to DG customers.
Those award-winning grounds come from Seattle, at a company called Dillano’s where you can give custom roasting directions to ensure a unique flavor.
“What sets us apart from other shops is the quality of our roasts,” barista Allan Gomez said. “Most coffee has a shelf life of about 14 days, and we keep ours for a maximum of ten days, so here you’ll never get a stale cup of coffee!”
The Daily Grind is open Monday through Friday from 5:30 a.m. to 6 p.m. and Saturday and Sunday from 6:30 a.m. to 6 p.m. and is located at 5590 E. 7th St.
Portfolio
By Sonia Guillen, Assistant Opinions Editor
The Portfolio coffeehouse offers various forms of entertainment that take place on Wednesdays, Fridays and Saturdays. Otherwise, the Portfolio is a quiet and casual place that is perfect for college students to unwind.
With daily sandwich specials, such as Tuesday’s $5.95 roasted beef with cheddar cheese, onions, tomatoes and lemon peppers stacked onto a warm, toasted ciabatta bread, not only will your studying get done, but your taste buds, will exult as you savor the fresh, organic tang of the food offered at Portfolio.
However, the scrumptiousness doesn’t end here. Portfolio also offers a selection of seasonal drinks that essentially taste like the holidays taking on drink form. This winter season, the Portfolio offers holiday classics, such as Spiced Apple Cider and Pumpkin Spice Latte, as well as some more unique concoctions, like the Gingerbread Mocha, Maple Mocha and the White Christmas Mocha.
Portfolio Coffeehouse is open Monday through Friday from 5:30 a.m. to 11 p.m. and Saturday and Sunday from 6:30 a.m. to 11 p.m. and is located at 2300 E. 4th St
The Library A
By Sonia Guillen, Assistant Opinions Editor
With shelves stocked with books for $1 and appetizing treats from pastries and cakes to freshly-made pastas and sandwiches, it’s rather hard not to buy anything at The Library A.
The Library A serves all of your standard coffeehouse drinks along with a few seasonal specials, including an eggnog latte and pumpkin spice latte. They also receive fresh pastries from La Mousse Desserts, including pumpkin spice cake and pumpkin cheesecake.
The Library A provides each customer with a stamp card. Once the customer receives ten stamps they are allowed one free pastry, coffee, sandwich or so on.
Open mic nights are held every Wednesday at 8 p.m., and acoustic music on Saturdays from 8:30 –10:30 p.m.
The Library plans on improving their menu in the near future by adding more vegetarian options, such as veggie quesadillas and hummus dip. They also plan on adding a few burrito options.
The Library A is open Monday through Friday from 6 a.m. until midnight, and Saturday and Sunday from 7 a.m. until midnight and is located on 3418 E. Broadway.
Aroma di Roma
By Francesca Murray, Contributing Writer
Aroma di Roma is a small café that is somewhat reminiscent of a modern New York coffee shop with a European flair. It offers a full menu and wine and beer selection as well as drinks and gelato.
Aroma di Roma is a viable candidate for an alternative coffee spot for students, especially those on a budget. It has a menu with a selection of Italian-style breakfast items to choose from including the popular Uova Benedetto, a variety of panini all under $8.
On Thursday, Friday and Saturday nights, the café offers a dinner menu that offers typical Italian dishes like lasagna and spaghetti carbonara.
The café serves gelato, all dubbed with names in Italian, like fragola (strawberry) and cioccolato (chocolate) that is homemade with ingredients shipped from Italy. The café also serves a wide range of unique caffeinated and non-caffeinated drinks, including the Latin Latte, which is made with chocolate and cinnamon.
Aroma di Roma is open Monday through Sunday from 5:30 a.m. to 10 p.m. and is located at 5327 E. 2nd St.
Vie
nto y Agua
By Barbara Navarro, Contributing Writer
Locals have their own small, tucked away enclave of mom-and-pop shops and the area’s greatest hidden gem, Viento y Agua Coffee House.
The coffeehouse is noticeably charming for its cozy, colorful atmosphere. The two main sitting rooms are overflowing with bookshelves and vintage, leather armchairs comfortable for hours of reading, writing and relaxing with one of Viento y Agua’s hot, pot-sized porcelain coffee cups.
The owners understand the necessity and benefits of stimulating, quality art. The walls are busy with photography, sculpture and graphic design pieces. Viento y Agua also gets the needs of its college-aged crowd. Cal State Long Beach art graduates contribute to Viento y Agua’s gallery, as well as perform in their music venue.
With free Wi-Fi, an eco-conscious attitude and a stimulating ambiance, Viento y Agua offers a menu that includes smoothies, teas and delicious Mexican Hot Chocolate.
The coffeehouse is located at 4007 E. 4th St. For more information and business hours please visit vientoyaguacoffeehouse.com.
Village Grind
By Laura Aguirre, Assistant Diversions Editor
Village Grind sits on 1st Street, quiet and peaceful like a real coffeehouse. It’s small and could be easily overlooked by drivers rushing by, but that’s the thing — the Village Grind is for pedestrians.
It’s a nice community coffeehouse that serves fresh coffee, bagels and offers vegetarian options for food.
Not only is the Village Grind located in a place reminiscent of Westwood and it’s very student-friendly. The prices are affordable, Wi-Fi is free and the beach is a short walk away.
Students can sit inside and read a book while listening to cool music that plays in the background, rest outside, or sit at their diner-type bar top and order a smoothie.
The Village Grind isn’t a glamorous coffeehouse but it has one characteristic that many new coffeehouses don’t have — a cozy and authentic feeling. The small space works to the advantage of the coffeehouse and the laid-back atmosphere will definitely have students coming again.
The Village Grind is open Monday though Saturday from 7 a.m. to 7 p.m. and Sunday from 8 a.m. to 6 p.m. and is located at 443 E. 1st St.
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