A couple of coffee shops in St. Louis

I spent the first week of June in St. Louis, MO, and while there I had the chance to visit two coffee shops. When I travel I usually like to try the shops other people recommend, but these ones were a few that I discovered on my own using the Yelp app on my phone.

Rise Coffee

One of the gems in The Grove district of St. Louis. Located just south of the downtown area of St. Louis, Rise Coffee is a small coffee house located inside a two-story brick home. All of the buildings on this street have been converted to shops and restaurants, so it doesn’t feel out of place.

The coffee shop describes itself as a bohemian coffee experience. That description rings true when you enter the shop — it features an eclectic mix of different nicknacks, chairs, tables, and artwork. But, nothing cheap or out of place. Everything about this place is designed and fun to look at.

On the first floor, when you arrive, you’ll see a deer’s head mounted to the wall. The deer is wearing a tie. Classy!

The coffee was fantastic, and worthy of remarks. I had a cappuccino and it was everything I wanted it to be. They had some breakfast dishes, as well as donuts that we enjoyed as well. Let’s see, we could probably call them a rising star.

Upstairs: I’ll add a note about the second floor of the Rise Coffeeshop. They have split the upstairs into part reading room, and part kids play area. Talk about an awesome way to bring in the parents and moms with kids. Clever. The upstairs, as you can see by these photos, is decorated in the same Bohemian style.

Rise Coffee was one of the coolest shops that I have visited in recent months.

Park Avenue Coffee – The Hill

We walked over to Park Avenue Coffee a couple of times. It is located within a 10 minute walk of the St. Louis Botanical Gardens just south of downtown St. Louis. This coffee company has three locations, and this one in The Hill district opened about a year ago.

The coffee was pretty average, so I ended up ordering their mochas. They boasted a Raspberry Mocha which was pretty good. They had a pretty great branding thing going on with their “Good.” theme. Clever and simple.

What struck me as interesting was their shelf that stores retail coffee bags and supplies.

They’ve built these shelves so that they attach to the wall with a steel reinforced plate that is on the back side of the wall. There are no exposed plates on the shelves as the reinforcements are drilled into the middle of the wood pieces. Pretty cool look!

So, that’s my St. Louis experience. During the early 1990s I lived in St. Louis for five years, but that was over 20 years ago, and so much has changed about the city in that time. It was fun to revisit!