Caribou Coffee
Update: This location is closed (thanks BT!)
In a word: There's nothing to it.
The specs: #0250!
Address, hours & details via Isthmus; review by Linda; official web site.
JM ate a sugar cookie and cinnamon roll with an apple juice.
Nichole ate a chocolate muffin with a dark roast.
The bill was $8, or $4/person.
JM gave Caribou Coffee a B-; Nichole gave Caribou Coffee a B+ (see our grading rubric).
Latest Caribou Coffee news and reviews
If Nichole had said to JM on their wedding day that he would go to every coffee house in Madison with her, he probably would have left her at the altar. The difference when you let a guy think of something himself is amazing.
Anyway, Caribou is another nondescript and inoffensive chain coffee house. The store has a ridiculous (Nichole would prefer to say whimsical) woodland motif with lots of rustic wood paneling, pleather chairs, and the cutest bear-shaped footrests you'll ever see.
Caribou has an adequate selection of non-coffee drinks, which JM of course appreciates. The bakery was more attractive to the eye than the palate: the chocolate muffin was somewhat bland, but they did get the top-to-base ratio right (2:1, top of the muffin TO YOU!). Both JM's cookie and his cinnamon roll were quite dry, which is what to expect from a place that makes their dough (so to speak) off the drinks.
The coffee was extremely hot, which would be a boon to commuters. After 20 minutes or so it was cool enough to enjoy, and the house dark roast proved to be a sturdy, decent blend.
All this adds up to a chain coffee shop that is a great alternative to, say, Starbucks if you've got no other options (like in Hudson, WI). But here in Madison, where high-quality local shops with fair beans and good non-Sam's club-esque bakery are springing up like mushrooms, you can do much better and you should.
Excuse Me!
Hudson has Starbucks, Caribou, Three Hats, Hudson Bagel, Dunn Brothers, Mugs and Suds (coffee house in the am and beer stop in the pm), Daily Grind as well as at least two commuter coffee shacks. Plus Perkins serves special coffees.
Posted by: MOM | May 25, 2007 at 07:15 AM
You guys are so burned.
Posted by: Kyle | May 25, 2007 at 07:36 AM
The cinnamon roll is MUCH better if you heat it up a little bit in the microwave...
Posted by: Annee | July 16, 2007 at 07:43 PM
Oooohh....scawy.
Nice post, anonymous. D'you like to yell "fire" into a crowded theater and then sneak away?
So what? Did you know Domino's Pizza was founded by a guy who is now building a Catholics-only groupthink village? That he supported (and ostensibly still supports) Operation Rescue?
Gonna check up on all the national eateries to see who's behind the curtain? Or just the ones you think might frighten people unwilling to actually investigate your fearmongering?
Posted by: Kyle | July 31, 2007 at 12:09 PM
Well, whichever one got there first, I think the ultimate message is clear (in the paraphrased words of Adventures in Babysitting):
"Don't f*ck with a librarian."
Posted by: Kyle | July 31, 2007 at 12:22 PM
The Fitchburg location is no more. I just found out yesterday but I was close to ten weeks late on this one: http://www.isthmus.com/forum/viewtopic.php?t=42168
Posted by: BT | August 04, 2008 at 01:06 AM