Where to find the best coffee around campus

Coffee can be made into a special, complex treat with a combination of steam and pressure. It's called espresso. When espresso is combined with frothy, steamed milk, it becomes a new creation altogether, the latte.

It can be fun to rediscover the basics of coffee specialty drinks. The simplicity of these basic drinks is refreshing.

Kansas City is lucky to have a great coffeehouse culture and a large number of coffeehouses that are the non-Starbucks and non-chain variety. There are quite a few of these local coffee houses near the UMKC campus. I decided to go to four local coffeehouses near UMKC and give a brief review of each. I judged them by ordering a double espresso and a latte and surveying the general mood. In the spirit of upcoming finals, I gave each coffeehouse a grade.

What I found was these coffeehouses are low-key and homey. They usually serve a full or partial menu of food items (maybe even homemade). They also serve coffee, which is, of course, the main event.

All of these local coffeehouses are fairly quiet, provide free Wi-Fi and make an effort to provide comfortable seating. This basically makes them very nice places to study for commuter and on-campus students alike. With finals looming overhead, a nice place to sit and study is welcome, and the caffeine helps too.

Oak Street Coffee Shop 6221 Oak St.

This little coffee spot on Oak Street is sweet and friendly. It shares an open-door policy with its neighbors J'adore (a home furnishings shop) and Brookside Antiques. Drinks from Oak Street Coffee travel freely between the adjoining doors of the three shops. It's no surprise this coffee shop has the homey live-in feeling of an antique store. The furniture is a wonderfully used and ragtag collection. Books, magazines and newspapers are scattered accessibly for shop patrons. A variety of kids' toys and books are available for the little ones. Free Wi-Fi is available and there is a lot of space to spread out. The homemade food menu is delicious and the scones are fabulous.

Their espresso was very good. It had a nice head of crema, the toffee-colored coffee foam that sits on top of espresso. The taste was surprisingly mellow and it smelled nice. There was a little bitterness but it was more of an aftertaste than a dominant flavor. The body or thickness was medium to thin. This was the most inexpensive espresso of all the shops. It only cost one dollar.

The latte was nice too. It had a good, rich coffee flavor that carried through the milk. The steamed milk was a nice temperature but the bubbles were overly large. The latte was moderately priced and was average with the other coffeehouses.

Grade: B+

On the menu: Double espresso $1.00 Latte, 12oz. $2.75

The Roasterie Café 6223 Brookside Blvd.

The Roasterie Café is a sleek and fairly new addition to the Brookside landscape. It's also a very welcome one. The café is compact and indoor seating is limited but when the weather is nice they have great outdoor seating. They have all the nice coffeehouse perks of copious magazines, newspapers, community info, free Wi-Fi and a well-rounded collection of board games.

The Roasterie Café has a full menu for every craving and they serve killer brewed coffee. They even have a Clover machine to make singly extracted cups of brewed coffee for flavor fanatics.

I knew I walked into the café on a good day when the barista said the espresso was awesome. And awesome it was. My double espresso was sweet, candy-like, syrupy and went down smooth and bitter. It had good body and a lingering aftertaste. Not all espresso is that good all the time even at The Roasterie Café. It was well-crafted shot and the product of all the elements being correctly aligned by the barista.

The latte was particularly pretty with an elegant leaf of latte art decorating the top. It tasted as pretty as it looked.

The menu prices at The Roasterie Café are a little higher all-around than other local coffee shops. They do, however, offer a student discount of 20 percent off after 6 p.m.

Grade: A-

On the menu: Double espresso $1.80 Latte, 12oz. $3.05

Coffee Break 5400 Troost Ave.

While the Oak Street Coffee Shop reminds me of an old-fashioned, second-hand shop, the aura of Coffee Break is of a groovy thrift shop or attic. The furnishings and décor do not even try to match.

Coffee Break has an expansive back room filled with a hodge-podge of chairs, tables and comfortable couches. There's lots of space to spread out and relax.

Free Wi-Fi is expected and available, as are newspapers and reading materials.

A full menu and many baked items tempt the eye at the front counter.

Coffee Break puts on occasional fashion shows and community events in its large space.

Coffee Break's location is very convenient. It's not far to walk or bike to and parking spots are ample.

The espresso at Coffee Break was overwhelmingly bland with a bitter aftertaste. It wasn't totally horrible, but it had no distinct flavor or character. I couldn't quite finish it.

The latte was not much better. The milk was steamed nicely and the top possessed a charming little latte art fern, but the flavor was insipid. Espresso extraction is a fickle, difficult art that requires constant attention to detail, so it's possible that my bland espresso was a fluke. Regardless, the espresso must be tasty; it's the star of the drink.

Grade: B-

On the menu: Double espresso $1.75 Latte, 12oz. $3.00

Muddy's 318 E 51st St.

Muddy's is already a popular UMKC institution for coffee. Students and faculty make up a large part of the customers. Some discussion-based classes informally meet there. A large part of its popularity is its proximity and convenience to UMKC. Walking there is fast from all parts of campus. It's also inviting to joggers, bikers and dog walkers because of its convenient location along the trolley track trail.

The interior of Muddy's is very small and cluttered.

There's not much space for decoration, but there are plants at the front of the café and art is always on the walls.

The free Wi-Fi is constantly in use by students and other patrons armed with laptops.

The double espresso at Muddy's was by far the most expensive at $2.25. Its flavor definitely did not merit the high price. It tasted thin and had salty, almost blood-like character. It had a decent smell but was fairly bitter and salty although not totally undrinkable.

Conversely, the latte at Muddy's was the least expensive. The latte had good steamed milk and was topped with a latte art fern. It was a nice, drinkable temperature. The latte had the same salty character as the espresso only diluted in the milk. The sweetness of the milk balanced out saltiness, but the flavor was a little cheese-like.

Grade: B

On the menu: Double espresso $2.25 Latte, 12oz. $2.65

lkatzer@unews.com