LANSING, Mich — Looking for a new place to get your daily cup of Joe? We've got you covered. In this week's Things to Do we visited three coffee shops in the mid-Michigan area you should check out.
517 Coffee Company
Located on the south side of Lansing you'll find the 517 Coffee Company.
The family owned coffee shop started almost nine years ago. Co-owner James Defrees says the shop has a welcoming vibe that makes customers want to strike up conversations with baristas.
"When people walk in, you know, they're comfortable to be their authentic selves," said Defrees.
The coffee shop has something to offer everyone.
"We tried to keep the menu small. We make all of our own syrups we come up with our own recipes. We just like to offer people really good coffee however they want to enjoy it," Defrees said.
Things you will see on the menu include lattes, mochas, expresso, cold brew and even specialty drinks.
"We do have tea with some really good tea that we actually get from the Traverse City area as well harvested and we carry kombucha that's locally from apple, Boston, kombucha, you know, so we do have other drinks but primarily coffee," Defrees said.
And if you prefer to make coffee at home they've got you covered with their whole bean coffee. They also have a coffee refill program.
"You can buy an airtight coffee storage container. It comes filled with coffee, and that you can bring it back and get it refilled for a discounted price," Defrees said.
The 517 Coffee Company is open Tuesday through Friday 7 a.m. to 3 p.m. and Saturday and Sunday from 9 a.m. to 2 p.m.
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Constellation Cat Cafe
Have you ever tried cats with you coffee? Well now you can at the Constellation Cat Cafe in East Lansing.
"We are a combination cat shelter, and coffee shop. We have a whole room full of adoptable rescue cats that you can hang out with or apply to adopt," said fundraising coordinator Quill Blankenship.
I mean who doesn't want to drink coffee and play with cats.
This coffee shop has a warm and cozy vibe and you can get anything from expresso drinks, to americanos, to lattes.
"We also each month do a Zodiac drink," said social media manager and barista Paula Crow. "We also have like a lot of drinks for kids. Like the mocktails and the milkshakes and hot chocolates, and then also, mochas for the coffee lovers and cappuccinos."
The coffee shop also has baked goods and all kinds merchandise you can purchase.
"We want everyone to feel safe here and everything that we do we do with a lot of love for our community and the cats that we serve."
They also have a community donation bin where people can leave or take anything.
Cat room space is limited so you'll want to book an appointment.
The Constellation Cat Cafe is open Monday through Thursday from noon until 8 p.m. Fridays and Saturdays they are open from 9 a.m. to 8 pm.m and then on Sundays from 9 a.m. until 6 p.m.
Waypoint Coffee Company
And finally you can experience coffee from all around the world at Waypoint Coffee Company in St. Johns.
"From Ethiopia to Colombia to even Hawaii," said co-owner and director of marketing Ethan Painter. "We exist to just serve the community excellent quality coffee, to create a space for people to come work or meet or gather for any reason."
The coffee shop opened two weeks before the COVID pandemic and is now three years old. The building that is now calls home used to be a factory that manufactured farm implements and sleighs.
"One really cool thing that we like to highlight is the safe door that is the original safe door to have a giant walk vault with a ton of paperwork and tax information in it. That was left just abandoned. So we tore out the whole vault but we kept the door kind of as a highlighted design feature," Painter said.
Waypoint Coffee Company offers a variety of coffee options and they try to keep their menu simple.
"The menu on the wall is just like our basic espresso menu so you can get an espresso a macchiato, a cappuccino, a latte, and then some house lattes which just means we add flavor to the lattes," Painter said. "We have a really pretty big hand prepared menu of coffee. That just means we're making it using an arrow press."
They also have hand prepared teas and kombucha on deck for those who want more options. They also have baked goods made from scratch.
They are open Monday through Friday from 7 a.m. to 5 p.m. and on Saturdays from 8 a.m. until 5 p.m.
Here are also some other coffee shops to check out:
Blue Owl Coffee
Foster Coffee Company
Strange Matter Coffee Co.
Hooked
BlackDog Coffee
Taste Coffee Co
The Coffee Barrel
The Brew Cafe'
Château Coffee Co.
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