The new series, BweeklyRoast, provides weekly off-campus coffee shop reviews for students who can’t spend another waking moment at Butler. This week: Charlotte Cafe in the UWS.

Look no further for your next study cafe; welcome to the new series: BweeklyRoast, where every week, Bwogger (and coffee addict) Chancey Stefanos will try a local, off-campus coffee shop and review it on taste, price, location, study potential, and general aesthetic. Locations reviewed will generally surround Morningside Heights and the northern areas of the UWS, making them perfect for the student who simply needs to get off campus in order to grind. 

This week’s reason to leave campus for your coffee is to avoid the vegans on College Walk advertising dog meat.

Charlotte Cafe @charlottecafeofficial

While 20 blocks from campus, Charlotte Cafe is very easy to get to, considering it’s right outside the exit of 96th station (95th and Broadway). Sure, $5.80 isn’t ideal, but if you desperately need to go to Trader Joe’s (like I did), you can walk there after you study and get the most out of it. Or, you could technically walk the mile to the shop, but I’d be thoroughly impressed if anybody has the time and energy to do that during midterm season.

I don’t know how busy it gets, but I went on a Friday at 4 pm, and unlike Milstein around that time, there were plenty of spots to sit and study. They do advertise a table time limit of 90 minutes per purchase, but I didn’t see many people following that rule. The indoor vibes were just okay, but the tables outside, on the other hand, were very cute (and still secluded)! As you can expect, the outdoor noise levels were typical for NYC, but it wasn’t as loud and distracting as it could have been due to the bushes and screen separating the seating area from the street. It’s also important to note the weather was really nice when I visited. There is an awning, but you might want to consider rain/cold if you have plans to study outside. There was, of course, free wifi (password: followme if you’re too nervous to ask) and a customer-only bathroom. I was very happy to find out this cafe is open until 7:30 daily, which is much better for my schedule than shops that close much earlier. 

The latte itself (regular latte, single, regular milk) was very pretty but generally tasted average compared to what I was expecting. I liked my friend’s iced oat milk latte better. It did taste better than Blue Java or Liz’s, and it was undoubtedly worth it just for the aesthetic. The highlight was undoubtedly the apricot croissant; it had the perfect amount of apricot jam inside of it and was very nicely warmed. 

Prices were also reasonable, considering how often I voluntarily pay $7 for a latte (Joe Coffee, I’m looking at you). My beautiful latte cost me a mere $3.50, and with the croissant, my total was $8.66. If you want a fancier latte (iced caramel latte with oat milk, etc.), you can expect to spend about $5.50 (Still cheaper than Joe!). Substitute milk upcharges were $0.50 for all the oat milk lovers out there. 

Highs: Apricot croissant, prices, open late, latte art, Parisian aesthetic for your Instagram story

Lows: $5.90 unless you want to walk to 95th, depends on the weather, just okay coffee

Overall: 6.5/10. I’d definitely go here again, but I’m pretty positive there are better spots to be found. 

Charlotte Cafe Coffee via Author