Want to try local cafés in Ann Arbor that are not chain coffee houses like Starbucks, Biggby and Dunkin?
Here are three fun cafés in Ann Arbor for you and your friends to check out, in order from most to least recommended: Moka & Co, Socotra Coffee House, and Lab Café.
The first place that I checked out was Moka & Co, a Yemeni style café in downtown Ann Arbor. They have tons of different drinks to try like specialty lattes, matcha, chai and fruit refreshers. They also have lots of different unique desserts like saffron milk cake, kinder cheesecake, pistachio basbousa and lotus biscoff cheesecake.
This place is definitely worth trying. There’s a large variety of specialty drinks to try whether it be coffee, tea or fruity refreshers. They also have a good selection of yummy pastries to go with your drink, such as sponge cakes, cheesecake, brownies and croissants and more. I chose to get an iced saffron latte and a pistachio milk cake. The saffron latte had a very unique taste, kind of like mocha with a bit of a tumeric spice to it. You don’t find a lot of unique drinks like that!
The pistachio milk cake was delicious and well made, it was very moist and the pistachio flavor wasn’t too overpowering. Another dessert I tried from there was the knafeh cheesecake, the cheesecake was very rich. The pricing of the drinks can run more expensive than normal, but in my opinion it’s worth it because all of their drinks and desserts are made high quality (unlike some places that sell bitter or watered down coffee) Therefore, the price of the drinks and desserts are worth spending $8 dollars. The atmosphere of the cafe is nice and cozy and it’s a perfect place to go and study, and also a nice place to sit and chill with a friend.
Socotra Coffee House is also a Yemeni café in Ypsilanti that serves traditional yemeni desserts and middle eastern teas and coffee. This place is worth visiting for sure, the menu and the atmosphere is amazing. I’d say their coffee options aren’t as versatile as Moka & Co but they have nice selections of hot coffee, basic iced coffees, and a great selection of tea.
Their pastry and dessert options are notably good. I got their hot honeycomb coffee, which has vanilla, cinnamon and honey in it. The drink is a perfect winter warm up and you get all of the honeycomb flavor such as the honey and cinnamon, with a nice balance of sweetness to it. The food I chose to get was their hot honeycomb bread bites which had cream cheese filling, butter and honey on top and sesame seeds. The bread was very soft and light and the cream cheese was delectable, I recommend getting it!
Unrelated to the drinks and food, another good thing about this café is the amazing culture to learn about. This café offers the experience of the rich culture and flavors of Yemen by basing their menu off of traditional Yemeni pastries and coffee.
The last place I visited was Lab Café, located downtown Ann Arbor. They are known for their pour-over cups and colorful bakery. This place was my least favorite. The coffees and dessert I got weren’t great. I got the iced honey lavender latte which was not too bad, but underwhelming. The lavender was alright, it wasn’t too soapy but the coffee itself was not good, it was too sweet so there was hardly any coffee taste. Another drink I tried was the hot cinnamon honey latte and that wasn’t good at all. It was too sweet, there was no coffee taste and way too much cinnamon with no honey flavor at all.
The dessert/pastry options were okay, but there weren’t a whole lot of options. I got their matcha walnut muffin, which sounded like it would be good but it wasn’t. There wasn’t enough matcha taste and the muffin was dry. However, I also had their peanut butter butterscotch brownie and it was surprisingly delicious. The only issue was it was a little dry but not bad to where it ruined the brownie. The last thing about this place was the interior. Keep in mind this place could have been built fairly recently, but it was very small inside and there was not enough seating so I was not able to sit there.
My favorite place out of the three was Moka & Co. Everything tasted spectacular so I heavily recommend trying this café, especially for their desserts.
