Brewed Awakening

The drinks here are really good. I really like this place’s Thai Tea and Caramel Craze Latte. Both are very good options and the pastries are decent as well.
I tried studying here a couple of times, but I wasn’t really feeling the vibe. It just felt a bit clustered and dark and the grid-​tiled tables make it really hard to write on the tables without a hard surface to write on. I would recommend the drinks, but I wouldn’t recommend studying here.

Great café on Northside to sit down and get some work done. The first time I came here was for office hours, but I stayed for a while afterwards because of the comfy atmosphere and wifi.
The white mocha here is one of the best I’ve ever had. Heads up though, this place is super packed from 11 AM — 2 PM. (It’s not impossible to find a table but you may have a to wait a couple of minutes)

I just had a cappuccino while sitting across from Robert Reich. That never happens at Blue Bottle.

This is one of about three or four (depending how you count) coffee shops right outside the north side of UCB campus. I come here quite often because I work just around the corner. This is a fine coffee shop, but I always feel like I want to like this place a little more than I actually do. The drinks are decent, but not amazing. There’s a nice atmosphere, but it can get quite crowded and hot inside during the middle of the day. More often than not, I sit at one of the about 5 tables outside on the sidewalk. The wifi can also be unreliable at times. In general, I don’t have a better suggestion of a coffee shop to go to on Northside right near campus, but this place isn’t perfect.

This place reminds me of my grad student days in Ann Arbor, Michigan. It’s a casual, no frills, slightly shabby kind of coffee joint, but the service is efficient, and there’s a good selection of bakery items. Come any time of the day and the place will be humming with college students and professors busily engaged in the daily life of the mind. The coffee is pretty standard, but the vibe is relaxed and unpretentious.

I really like the atmosphere here. It’s warm, homy and the bakeries are really good. I especially love their hot chocolate, which is not that sweet but really rich.

They saw us outside and let us in and made our drinks at 6:44, before they opened at 7am. Great service, great cappuccino frappé (it’s basically coffee ice cream that you drink with a straw!) and it was a great way to be welcomed home after a long bus ride with Cal band from LA.
Go Bears! Go Brewed!

The thai iced coffee may be the best one I’ve ever had

Love the decoration, they have yummy scones and muffins and good coffee. Plus there is WiFi and plenty of tables. I was there many times during the summer (Berkeley’s low season because students are gone).

Where do I begin…
— The iced coffee is a little watered down (but good enough to keep you awake and going)
— Plenty of seats and tables
(Definitely a studying spot inside but to socialize, outside is perfect)
— Tons of pastries
(If you really have a sweet tooth, shoot for the pastries)
— Many power outlets
(If you need to do homework on your laptop or charge your phone, this is the spot.)
— .35 cent card charge
(Make sure you have enough on your card before you go ham buying coffee and food!)
I wouldn’t say this is my go-​to coffee spot, but maybe next time I’ll go out and try something else than their iced coffee!

Coffee– strong
Other beverages — great smoothies and real orange juice
Pastries — basic, decent
Space — lots of large tables for studying and great for group projects
Outlets — slight limited
Credit cards — surcharge of 35 cents so order all at once
Bathroom — 1 without a key (still has my favorite sign)

During school time this place is packed with students who are researching for their 10 page report, studying for their next exam, submitting their homework via email to their professors, applying for jobs and internships, oh and drinking some fresh squeezed juice or refueling their caffeine intake before they pull an all nighter.
When it’s like that it’s humid, and stuffy in there. There are plenty of plugs to keep any device you need charged, they have lots of seating and workspace there as well. You need wifi? They got two lines! But if you’re not a student I would only suggest coming if you’re really about fresh squeezed juice or need to grab some coffee in a pinch.
All the food and drink I’ve tried there is solid, but there’s plenty of of places all over Berkeley to study and I’m not sure you want to be in a stuffy environment. Other than that I went during the 4^th of July and there was plenty of seating which was a much more pleasant experience to get some work done in!

Got their Thai iced coffee, which was decent and well priced. It was strangely warm inside for me during a Wednesday morning, and it’s not the most well lit place (how I prefer my coffee shops). I’d still come back to do work if I were around the area.
You also need to pay extra if you use a credit card — take from that what you will.

I am rarely moved to write reviews but I have to commend this business after the experience I just had.
I like coming to this place because I’m on an elimination diet, and they have lactose free milk and gluten free California Suncakes. So I bought my breakfast of a lactose free latte and orange chocolate chip suncake, and went outside to enjoy them. I was on my second bite of the suncake when I realized that it didn’t seem totally fresh… Then I noticed a weird dusty layer on the outside that didn’t seem normal, and it smelled a little rank. Just as I was taking a whiff of my questionable cake, a woman, who I presume may be the owner of the business, walked out of the door and saw me. «What’s wrong? Is it bad?» I had hardly come to a conclusion to that question myself (you know it’s hard to tell sometimes with these «health food» products… they’re not allowed to be too delicious), so I let her smell the piece in my hand and come up with her own verdict. She immediately joined in my suspicion that it wasn’t quite right, and offered to let me pick out something else. I gladly let her take my stinky suncake away, and I picked out a different, cranberry one. As I was going back outside to my table, I noticed that she was opening the last orange chocolate chip suncake in the basket to inspect it. A moment after I sat back down outside, the lady came back out with the new chocolate chip suncake she had just opened in her hand, with a slice cut off to show that it was fresh, and she offered it to me in addition to the one I just picked out. Just looking at it, you could tell that it was a different story from the one I had originally purchased. No funky dust layer… «Sure, I’ll take it! Thank you!» Now I am happily enjoying my FRESH orange chocolate chip California Suncake and lactose free latte, as I had intended to, and I am very grateful for the extra cranberry one I will save for later.
Overall, it was a relatively small gesture that this woman performed, but it made a world of difference to me. I went from being just an anonymous person having a less than ideal experience of the breakfast that I was responsible for buying, to being a valued patron of this establishment who deserves a good experience here. This woman’s level of attention to customer satisfaction is rare in my experience, and it surprised me just how much it impacted my overall sense of worthiness. Had she not intuitively responded to my subtly suspicious suncake sniff (say that 10x fast) I probably would have finished eating it, assuming it was supposed to be weird, or thrown it out and left without second thought. Afterall, who am I to complain about a shitty packaged, gluten free meal bar in a café where they make real food? The fact that she took the time and responsibility to make sure that I got exactly what I wanted and MORE fully warrants a 5-​star rating from me.

I’ve been coming here off and on for a while. I guess nobody else checks in on Unilocal so I’m the duchess woo!
I haven’t tried that many of their flavors, and I admit the higher prices for credit card are a downside. I have to get cash just for this place!
But I still give it 5 stars, all for Efrain (not sure about spelling). I don’t come in regularly, only about once a week or every two weeks at random times, but he still knows my name, face and order (small Americano). I asked once for him to add water to the top since I don’t add cream, and he’s done it ever since without reminder.
He greets me with an awesome «HELLO! How are you?» Besides making small talk, he acts like he cares about how I’ve been doing. If it’s been a while he’ll say «Oh I haven’t seen you for a while, have you been too busy?»
He let me microwave my lunch for free and teased me the entire time about charging me. When I offered to tip or something he emphatically said «NO!» and covered the tip jar. Who does that? So awesome!
I think he’s there M-​F mornings; I’m not sure about other times.

A busy and fairly big café on North Side that gets the job done, Brewed Awakening is a great stop on a morning on this side of campus. They specialize in the classic, darker type of Italian roasts, with all the expected espresso drinks, and a nice bold cup of black coffee.
The place has free wifi, indoor and outdoor destiny, and a moderate spread of power outlets throughout the café floor. The place can get kind of dark, so finding a spot closest to the window is best for those who like to chat or get work done in the nice morning or afternoon sun. Solid spot.

Coffee is pretty good, the free WiFi is decent, seating is plentiful with good outlet availability. Service is pretty poor though, especially when your barista engages in a stare-​down with you.
Fun story, went today with a friend to get some coffee. After ordering, we stood around waiting for awhile. After waiting for a few few minutes, and after watching the barista make drinks for a few people in line behind us, I figure, hey, maybe they forgot our order. It’s cool, it has happened before, so I nonchalantly inquire, «Hey, we’ve been waiting a bit for our [drink order here], what’s-…» The barista then DIGS THROUGH THE TRASH, triumphantly producing a grime-​stained tab, and goes, «Waiting a bit? You mean a few minutes.» «Right-​…» I stammer. «I thought so» he huffs.
Bearded Barista Brad (not his real name of course) then proceeds to engage in a stare-​down with me over the course of the next few minutes. Alright Brad, you showed me. Dominance established sir. I’ll stay away from your hill, avoiding the inevitable Sassy Shirtless Showdown we would otherwise have.

So the large OJ is like, really large. Just sayin.
Ham and cheese croissant was good. Chocolate croissant was good. Nothing was amaze-​balls, but worth stopping in.

Personally, I find Brewed Awakening to be one of the more underrated cafes in Berkeley. When you have the more mainstream options down in Southside, like the ever famous Strada and Milano, you have no reason to go up to Northside to get your caffeine buzz (besides Philz, though that’s more of a weekend thing since it’s so far). And I agree.
I don’t go to Brewed Awakening for the coffee. Instead, I am here to write about the Thai Iced Tea. With so many Thai restaurants in Berkeley, you’d imagine that there’s no reason to hit up an Americanized coffee shop for Thai Tea, but that’s where you’re wrong. Sure, it’s not as legit as the Thai places, but when you want a really sweet, milky Americanized Thai Iced Tea, Brewed Awakening makes some of the best, and it really hits the spot when I’m not too worried about falling into a lactose-​induced coma.
Regardless of where you may decide to eat on Northside, you can never go wrong with grabbing a drink at Brewed Awakening.
I also recommend the croissants, which I have found to be the best croissants you can find in Berkeley. The croissant and Thai Tea really are a killer combo for a nice, easy breakfast on the go when you’re up in Northside.
TIP: Beware of the extra credit card charge! It’s still pretty affordable though, so don’t worry.

Cafes are plentiful around Berkeley, and this local spot is pretty typical as far as those joints go. I would say this is one of the more spacious cafes, especially on Northside, and there’s free wifi as well as self-​serve water, which are always nice perks.
I stopped by around 2pm on a Tuesday to grab a quick coffee and get some work done, and the inside was pretty bustling with students (apparently it’s midterm season). It’s a little dated feeling, as most structures in the area can be, but there are a decent number of tables and outlets. The servers behind the counter were really friendly, and they were all super efficient.
Small decaf iced coffee with 2% milk:
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This was a pretty decent-​sized small coffee; it was more of a medium (think grande size for Starbucks) rather than a small, and there was actually less ice when I asked for less ice (yay!). Milk and half-​and-​half were self-​serve on the counter, but there was no nonfat or soy. The coffee itself was strong, but pretty bitter. It wasn’t bad, but it wasn’t the best coffee I’ve ever had.
Pumpkin cream cheese cupcake:
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They have pastries on display at the front of the counter, and I saw this pumpkin cream cheese cupcake and just had to have it. It’s reminiscent of Thanksgiving, with spiced pumpkin notes and a cream cheese middle that was moist. The pumpkin cupcake portion itself could have been more moist, but it had good flavor, and when paired with the cream cheese filling, was quite good. It was definitely an indulgent moment.
Not a bad place for a quick stop or an infrequent visit, but I don’t know that I can fight over seats with the undergraduates and win. I’d opt for off-​peak hours to drop by.