Lab

I don’t think I could have survived college without Lab. Having grown up on the West Coast and a coffee addict, finding Lab was a huge relief. Delicious coffee drinks (café con miel! iced cold brew!), great treats, cozy setup, lots of power strips, and super nice baristas.

I’m into it. Great coffee, tea is good, too. Baked goods are A+!
Kinda loud for my taste, but I am old (er) and grumpy these days.

I really liked the bacon cheddar scone. Brown sugar sea salt latte didn’t actually taste that distinct to me, but it was good anyway. Cool ambience for some Saturday afternoon catching up, kinda crowded though. Service was a bit confusing but the people seemed nice. Can’t wait to come back and try more!

Lab is like that girl on Instagram with the perfectly edited hipster photos — minimalist, put together and amazing for latte art pics :)
So far I’ve tried the brown sugar sea salt and green tea lattes, both of which are beautifully served and have just the right amount of sweetness.
The décor is lovely and ambiance is so soothing. If I met the interior designer I’d hire him/​her to do my apartment in a heartbeat.
Only docking a star because space is limited. It’s hard to snag a table to do work, so come here to just chat and enjoy a peaceful afternoon.

This place is cute — anthropologie vibes.
I ordered the honey lavender latte and oh my goodness. So good. Honestly one of the most enjoyable latte experiences I’ve had this far. Great drink for people with a sweet tooth.
Unfortunately, I was only visiting for a weekend. But now that I’ve discovered honey lavender lattes, I will be on the look out for ones in New York.

Coffee that is cheaper and better than Starbucks’ and an amaaaazing vibe. What’s not to love? I adore everything here from the hipster decorations to the unique lattes to the wonderful natural lighting to the soothing music. Best thing is that they have day old baked goods for only $ 1 too! Will def be back in the future.
However, one side is that this coffee shop is extremely small and spacing is very limited during busy hours like weekends/​afternoons. I’ve passed by many times before and wanted to stop in, but could never find seating.

Lab is quality as always. My lavender early grey tea hits the spot and I could eat the gluten free pumpkin bar every day (doesn’t taste «gluten free» at all). Nice service, too.

All about the vibes at Lab. Strong coffee, vibrant colors, and a bunch of seating options. If you’re lucky, and the weather’s right, you’ll get to people watch on their patio.

Cozy, minimalist coffeehouse with talent and taste! Temped by their outdoor sign advertising a honey lavender latte, I strolled in on a Saturday afternoon while visiting Ann Arbor. Even though it was crammed with students studying, it felt homey and inviting with big picture windows and simple décor. The baristas efficiently whipped up my soothing honey lavender latte. I sat at the bar with my husband and took in the ambiance for awhile. Can’t wait to visit again next time I’m in town.

After reading a bunch of reviews, I checked out Lab and tried their brown sugar and sea salt latte, as well as their honey lavender latte. The place is super cute and trendy, and I definitely caved to the hipster vibe. The drinks sound very fancy, and sound like they would be delicious. But in reality you’re paying $ 5 for something that’s not really that good. The drinks were both an odd mix of flavors that didn’t combine well in practice, and drowned out any taste of coffee.
Final verdict: Lab is overpriced and overhyped. Sounds great in theory, not so great in practice.

As suggested by the name, nothing in Lab’s shop is perfect. It seems that they need more research into the quaint coffee shop business.
They have 3 different sizes for Lattes, which I find weird. Why not just have 1 size when the difference between the sizes are nominal? Also, they have no/​extremely poor Latte art on their drinks. Come on, that’s an expectation for a $ 4 cup of coffee.
So how was the drink itself? My lavender honey Latte was overly sweet, drowning out the true taste of coffee. It’s like the high end version of Starbuck’s Pumpkin Spice Latte.
Their wi-​fi also has issues and I was never able to connect during my stay. Power is hard to find in the shop as well, but I’m not docking any points off for that.
Lab needs to run some experiments to better our experience!

This is in downtown Ann Arbor in the student area (East) side of town. The café itself is stylish and has a bit of a big city feel. It is a bit cramped in a few areas and there is not allot of seating so if you plan to study come on the off times.
The coffee/​beverages we had was good. We had a cappuccino, a regular and iced tea. The coffee was a pour over and had wonderful flavor ad described by the barista.
Why not four or five? The service. The price is not cheap but in line with other cafes with better quality coffee… but those cafes march quality coffee with quality service. The two baristas were not unfriendly but definitely not friendly. There was slight tension and a a feeling like I was bothering them…
This is based on one visit and like all reviews can go up or down with repeat visits. These two baristas may be having a bad day, have an oppressive boss or need to look for née lines of work… Again, not bad service but uncomfortable and affected the experience which in the end is what having coffee is really about.

One of my favorite spots to hang out in!
Although this isn’t my favorite place for the actual coffee (although the coffee is very good), the ambience is seriously divine. Simple and clean: white walls, succulents, vintage furniture. It’s basically your dream studio apartment.
I always order the cinnamon latte. It’s seriously a work of art! The latte art here is stunning.
The always have an intriguing selection of pastries. Next time I go I swear I’m going to try one.
I think the pricing is standard for an independent coffee shop. You’re paying for the quality you get.
If you’re in AA definitely swing by and take it «for here!»

If you love matcha green tea, you MUST get the matcha latte. It’s so delicious! It seriously is the perfect balance of matcha and steamed milk, without being overly strong or sweet. My sister ordered the honey and cinnamon latte, which she enjoyed (the cinnamon was very strong, in my opinion).
The décor here is super cute and simple. This is the perfect place to chat over a cup of coffee, read, or even study. Seating is limited, so be prepared to sit with other people if you aren’t a social butterfly!
They have free water (infused with cucumber when I visited) right by the door after you walk in. The key to the bathroom is hanging on the wall right next to that table (a coffee scoop with a key attached to it). They also sell frozen yogurt and pastries/​macarons here, although I haven’t tried any.
Service was okay, in my opinion. The staff was neither friendly or rude. Our lattes sure made up for the okay service though!

Their green tea latte, desserts, and froyo are all absolutely AMAZING! Far more superior than the drinks and desserts from Starbucks and Panera. The froyo here is definitely the best in town!
However the place is really small and the décor is unattractive… and they leave the door open in the summer so there are flies trying to eat my food. There were also dead bugs by the window. Not a place to hangout with friends. I come here for the deliciousness only.
I’m not taking stars off because I really love the food here!

Lab is probably one of the places that I attend the most consistently in AA. While I’m not a super avid coffee addict, I do thrive on Americanos and Lab makes them pretty well.
If you’re not a big fan of coffee I do recommend any of their assorted lattes and mocha (hot chocolate + shot of espresso). Their teas are also a solid choice; an iced peach tea is perfect for the summer.
They’ve recently switched to baked goods from Songbird Café which I can vouch for as the best cookies. Froyo is seasonal unfortunately so it won’t be available til the weather gets warmer, but when it returns it’s definitely one of the best on UM campus :)
If you like a little noise when you study, Lab is a hit or miss — depending on the barista, some crank up the music while other’s put the volume at a more subtle level.
Overall, it’s one of my favorite places to study. Great vibes, awesome drinks, and a lot of seating. What more can you ask for from a café?

As a coffee lover, I try to visit as many coffee joints as possible… there are few of my favorites and because of the unique mixture of offering at the store, I’ll have to rate the place a 4 stars.
In addition to getting coffee/​tea, you can get some baked goods that’s provided from Songbird Café, you can enjoy froyo on the side (much better during the summer/​fall)… I’m very picky when it comes to froyo and Lab is on my top 3 place to get great froyo.
The Con side of it…
— parking (yeah, it’s downtown)
— overflow of customers from the noodle bar waiting to be seated — it can get hectic from time to time.
I’ll make visits in the summer when the students are gone!

I love Lab. I am here all the time because I live right there, so my wallet weeps about my coffee addiction. That’s not to say I think Lab is pricey — I think you pay for the quality of coffee that you get.
Starting from pour-​overs, I would say Lab is on par with Comet. Lab brings in different beans from different places, including Intelligentsia. I like the variety and pour-​over coffees in general bring out the unique flavors of each coffee.
I am a sucker for the Brown Sugar Sea Salt Latte (with soy, of course). Especially in the cold winter months, I can’t say no to it. It’s wonderful. A tiny bit of sea salt goes a long way with enhancing the brown sugar taste.
In addition to coffee, Lab offers the best baked goods and pastries ever. They’re from local cafes, like Songbird Café on Plymouth (another must-​go-​to place). Definitely get the red velvet cake — I’m obsessed; it’s amazing; the cream cheese icing is perfect.
Last but not least, if you are wondering where to get the best froyo in Ann Arbor, I would argue that Lab has the best froyo. I’m not a fan of the creamy/​milky froyos that most places have. I like when froyo has a little taste of tart like yogurt naturally has.
I could probably go on about how much I love Lab, but too long didn’t read? Go here. You will like it.

What a treat this place is! As out-​of-​towners, wecame here on a Saturday morning based on recommendations from the talk threads (thanks!) and we loved it so much! I had a cappuccino with almond milk, which was lovely AND delicious, and my SO had a genmaicha tea. We also ordered a vegan berry bar and a cherry cheese danish. Both were so perfect, we wanted more– but had to save space for all of the other spots we wante to hit.
The atmosphere here was great for me (though my SO didn’t agree 100%). They were playing 90s R&B– Mariah Carey, Janet Jackson and the likes. I was quietly singing along to the songs while I enjoyed my cuppa.
We will for sure be back here on all of our future trips to Ann Arbor!

During my last night in AA, I stopped by this place to thaw myself out from the cold. It wasn’t crowded but there were people sitting around, studying, socializing, and enjoying their cups of joe. I got myself a lavender mocha latte and my friend got their famously advertised lavender honey latte. I thought it was a bit overpriced, too. $ 8.25 for a medium and a small drink. Both were good but a bit too sweet. Their latte art wasn’t that pretty either. The milk was already mixed with the drink by the time the barista drew our hearts and whatnot.
It also did take awhile for them to make the drink, I had to wait about 10 minutes for my drink to be made since there was only 1 barista making our drinks.
This place also serves desserts and froyo if you are interested in that.