by Carly Walton

Like most students, I live off caffeine. Over my nearly four years living in Greensboro, I have gone out and explored different coffee shops around town that you possibly would not know are there. Over the course of the semester, I will go all over Greensboro to rate and rank coffee shops based on price, menu, atmosphere and distance from campus. The first two coffee shops that I would like to talk about are Common Grounds and Tate Street Coffee House. Tate Street Coffee House is just a short three-minute walk from campus, so it automatically gets five stars. They have their regular menu that has all of the different types of drinks and flavors that they have, but they also have a separate menu for “seasonal” drinks or even “Employee Favorites;” Five stars for the menu versatility. On weekends, they have people play music, or they always have some type of smooth or calming music going on, another five stars with prices under five dollars. Overall, I will be rating Tate Street Coffee House a five out of five.

Common Grounds is a six-minute drive from campus, or if you really wanted to walk across UNCG, it would take roughly 38 minutes. The downtown location is a three-minute drive or a 28-minute walk, so the distance from campus would be rated a four, mainly due to it not being within walking distance. The first menu that you see is their ” specialty” drinks, which they have named after celebrities. For the longest time, it was just the specialty drink menu, and there was not anything else, until last spring or early summer, when the employees had made their own favorites, also named after celebrities; Four and a half for the menu diversity. Prices are around the five to six dollar mark, so that is five stars. Common Grounds is open until 11 most nights, where they have karaoke, live music and, for people ages 21 and up, they serve alcohol; five stars for the atmosphere. 

The current ranking puts Tate Street Coffee House at the number one spot and right below will be Common Grounds. Come back to the next issue of the Collegian for more coffee shop rankings.