Coffee is a part of life for many Williams students. Fortunately, there are many places to go for a cup of joe.
Remember to be cool and eco-friendly: use a CUPPS cup or other reusable vessel.
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A Perfect Blend
BURNED DOWN
Located down Spring Street next to Subway (where the old coffee shop was). It is half coffee shop, half art framing shop. It has a great atmosphere and excited owner. It opened on October 27, 2006 so not much is known about it, but despite the $8 sandwiches, so far the coffee is tasty and the seats in front of the window are great for people watching.
APB has more ambience than TC with the consequence of not having very good for doing hours of reading, but the deliciousness of the organic French Roast (and their pumpkin muffins!) make it worth the visit.
A Perfect Blend suffered the same firey fate as Subway and the Pub.
EcoCafe
Small: $1.00, Large: $1.25
Located in Schow Atrium. Dean's Beans coffee, usually well roasted, but very weakly brewed. The best choice around for reasonably priced organic coffee, but it unfortunately closes too early in the day to be of much use to many students.
Fortunately, the ladies that work there are really nice. Ask Karen about her daughter.
Tunnel City Coffee
16 oz: $1.90
Strong (some have said 'acidic') but refreshingly bold. You don't need to drink endless cups to get your fix, just a small cup is satisfying.
If you have a coffee maker, save money by brewing your own black stuff from their excellent beans. While not all blends are organic or fair-trade, the beans are roasted locally at Tunnel City's location in North Adams.
More expensive (but worth it!) are the espresso drinks. Tunnel City definitely holds its own against good indie shops in the Outside World.
100 Spring St. The B&L Building Williamstown, MA (413) 458-5010
Dining Halls
All you can drink, in any of the dining halls.
Dean's Beans coffee, sometimes a bit diluted (especially in Dodd.) Plus the cups are tiny, bring your own mug.
Goodrich Coffee Bar
CLOSED DUE TO LACK OF FLOOR
Small = $1.25, Large = $1.50
GCB carries Dean's Beans coffee. They have nutmeg you can put in your coffee! Be warned, however, that the quality of the actual coffee has been poor to horrendous as of late. While the coffee isn't great, the lattes are fantastic (and probably have more caffeine)!
If there is "extreme caffeine" go for it, it's amazing.
And one of their new Goodrich Combo Meals lets you get two nantucket nectars and a bagel with cream cheese for $4.25 of breakfast equivalency.
Dunkin' Donuts
Coffee that is absolutely delicious, reasonably priced and conveniently available at all hours of the day, or horrible-tasting, not worth the money, and too far away - depending on whom you ask. The Williamstown location, open from 5am to 10 pm, is near Colonial Plaza, which is either a bit of a walk or a short drive. The North Adams location, at the intersection of Rt. 2 and Eagle St., is open 24/7. Now accepting credit and debit cards in addition to cash.
Papa Charlie's Deli
Don't drink the "Shock" extreme caffeine coffee. it tastes awful. Also, don't expect their deliciously named coffees to taste how they smell - such as browny toffee, or tasty delicious mcdeliciousness.
Brewhaha
Located in North Adams near MassMoCA (coincidence?). Excellent toasted muffins. Closed Wednesday. http://www.cafebrewhaha.com
20 Marshall St. North Adams, MA 01247 (413) 664-2020
Cup and Saucer
Another great North Adams coffee shop--right around the corner from Brewhaha in the building where Gideon's used to be. Large, funky, nice people, good muffins and sandwitches, free wireless internet. A great place to write a paper if you're sick of the library and have a car.
67 Main St North Adams, MA 01247 (413) 664-4225
South Street Cafe
A bit of a drive, but who doesn't need their Vermont fix every once in a while? Located off of Rte. 7 in Bennington. The coffee is actually Tunnel City, but the ceiling is gorgeous, the atmosphere comfortable, and the crowd composed of strangers.
105 South St. Bennington, VT (802) 447-2433
Harper House
54 Stetson Court, totally free, and you get to use the amazing and magical machine. Coffee by Green Mountain. It helps, but is not necessary, that you be a philosophy student.
Physics Common Room
Powdered instant coffee mix for an honor system 10 cents. For emergency use only.
Chemistry 155 with Professor Park
Powdered instant coffee mix for FREE (and hot chocolate!). You'll need it. Class is MWF 8:00 - 8:50am.
Turkish Coffee
Stronger, sweeter, and tastier than all of the above, but woefully unavailable at stores and coffee shops around here. It can be ordered through amazon or sultansdelight.com, which has a minimum order of $30 including S&H and doesn't necessarily send the brand you ordered. If you know of better sources, please record them for posterity!
A Cheaper Way to Get Turkish Coffee:
There is a website called Tulumba.com where you can get Turkish coffee with different brands. The shipping costs vary from $ 5.59 (delivery in 2-3 business days/Sat. delivery) to $ 21.80 (via UPS next day Air on Business days). The costs for different brands are:
Mehmetefendi (8.8 oz/ 250 g) $ 8.39 (one of the best brands in Turkey) Tulumba.com (3.5 oz/ 100 g, 1 lb./ 500 g) $ 2.59, $ 8.39
The website also tells you how to prepare Turkish coffee. Enjoy!