Coffee Emporium: Downtown

For this week's review, we headed downtown to Coffee Emporium, one of the city's best coffeehouses and one of the few places downtown that is open on weekends and serves brunch.
It is a waffle brunch, to be exact, where you can have your choice of toppings including fresh strawberries, bananas, nuts, chocolate chips, and whipped cream on a hot Belgian waffle.
Previously, the waffle brunch was served only on Saturdays, but they have expanded it to both Saturdays and Sundays!

While the waffles are the main attraction at the CE brunch, they also have bagels, scones, muffins, and breakfast burritos. Not to mention, their always fabulous lunch options, of which my personal favorite is the black bean burger, which is grilled to perfection and served with crisp veggies, ranch dressing, and feta cheese.

John and I decided to do splitsies with a loaded waffle (all the toppings, except for the nuts) and a breakfast burrito. The breakfast burritos are pre-made and come with bacon or without, we got the bacon.

Coffee Emporium's claim to fame is that it roasts its own coffee beans on site at their downtown location and their coffee is always strong, aromatic, and delicious. They now also use milk and cream from Snowville Creamery, an independent dairy farm where the cows are pasture grazed. I got an iced coffee with cream and it was probably the richest coffee I've ever had. And while my coffee was decadent, for the sake of my waistline, I will have to remember to ask for half the normal amount of cream next time.

The waffle was great and I'm always happy with the amount of toppings- tons of fruit and just the right amount of chocolate chips, so you don't get overwhelmed with sweetness. The breakfast burrito contained eggs, cheese, bacon, potatoes and onions. It was tasty and totally hit the spot, but the tortilla was a little chewy due to the fact that they microwaved it. We concurred that if they grilled the burrito or just made it to order, it would definitely taste better.

The space itself is large, cool, and relaxed. Pleanty of tables and a few couches, but you better get there early if you want a couch spot, because they are usually occupied. If it's nice out, grab a City Beat and sit at one of their shaded sidewalk tables.

Coffee Emporium's website isn't really complete and a new site has been promised, but it does give the downtown address and lunch menu, as well as their Hyde Park and Xavier University locations.