ACOUSTIC CAFE (EAU CLAIRE)

Eau Claire’s many coffee houses are not one in the same. Each one has some creative minds behind the counter experimenting, testing, and drawing inspiration from all kinds of places to create some fantastic drinks for your next caffeine fix. I went around to some of Eau Claire’s coffee houses in search of each one’s single most unique or favorite drink and got a pretty unreal caffeine high in the process.

1. Turtle Mocha • Acoustic Café

A mocha with an extra oomph, a turtle mocha blends in caramel and hazelnut flavors into the traditional ingredients of a mocha. The caramel, hazelnut, and chocolate are mixed with steamed milk and a shot of espresso. This drink is equally delicious hot, iced, or blended.

2. Long Black • Eau Claire Downtown Coffee (EC/DC)

A shout out to Eau Claire’s sister city, Lismore, Australia, the long black is a specially crafted drink influenced from down under. It’s a lot like an Americano. However, there’s less water, which creates a more pronounced flavor. The espresso is also extracted through a special method called ristretto, creating a purer taste and thicker texture.

3. Black Eye • Grand Avenue Café

The black eye, often associated with its lesser evil, the red eye, is a hard punch in the face that will keep its consumer awake for a very long time. It’s a well-known drink in coffee addict circles, but the Grand Ave Café does it best, strong. The black eye’s beauty is in its simplicity; it’s a cup of coffee with two shots of espresso. The red eye is the same thing but one shot less.

4. Shanghai Shroomer • Caffe Tempo

Without hesitation, this is the most unique drink Caffe Tempo has on the menu. Only served as a large blended drink, it contains two shots of espresso, chocolate, ginger, milk, and a secret ingredient with Chinese origins. The drink has a texture incomparable to other blended drinks in the area.

5. The Rob Thomas • Racy D’lene’s

Racy’s has many creative drinks with the names to match; however, The Rob Thomas is as smooth as its namesake’s 1999 hit single. It’s a blended drink made with cold press coffee, ice, milk, and it’s richly flavored with vanilla, caramel, and honey. Cold press coffee is simply a more enhanced version of traditional iced coffee. Rather than being brewed hot and left to cool down, cold press is brewed with filtered cold water over a greater period of time. The longer brew time yields a more caffeinated cup and less diluted flavor.

6. Dark Chocolate Almond Milk Cold Press • The Goat

The baristas at the Goat pointed to this delicious concoction as an under the radar drink on their menu. It’s an iced drink made with cold press just like The Rob Thomas above, but the addition of dark chocolate almond drink adds a really rich flavor compared to the more common regular chocolate almond milks used at other coffee shops.