1. The Daily Bird
818 E. CENTER ST.
What started as a pop-up at Riverwest’s Centro Café has morphed into a bona fide java house, serving up positivity (check out the affirmations painted on the yellow walls) and invigorating refreshment in the old Fuel Café space. The Bird uses local roaster Anodyne to make toasty and tasty drinks in expected and less expected forms. Take café miel, an espresso-honey- steamed-milk-cinnamon drink that goes splendidly with the delicious mini quick breads on offer from Honey Bear Baked Goods.
Tell us who you’d pick to be a Betty this year!
2. Vendetta Coffee Bar
7613 W. STATE ST., WAUWATOSA
A tin ceiling, exposed brick, dark woodwork and fetching old bar all smack of the circa-1895 building’s old saloon beginnings. The drink menu leans Italian – and not just cappuccinos and lattes. There’s a desire here to go
for something richer and treat-like – the marocchino, a drinkable dessert composed of espresso and whipped cream in a chocolate hazelnut-lined cup sprinkled with chocolate shavings. Sinfully good.
3. Space Time Coffee
819 N. MARSHALL ST.
The micro-roaster’s mantra of “Make Art. Be Weird. Drink Coffee!” is a whimsical counterpoint to the vintagey, late 19th-century setting of its host, the Dubbel Dutch boutique hotel. Owner Adam Sterr roasts beans (sourcing from Central America) in small batches. If he’s not the one making your latte (try adding floral-hinting lavender syrup, mmm), he may be somewhere else in the building prepping those beans for brewing.
