Bowtruss Coffee Roasters

Little coffee shop really close to the Art Institute with really nice and friendly staff. The interior design is quite hipster.
I got a macchiato. Boy does their espresso pack a punch! I am a total amateur at describing coffee, but I would say that their espresso is really flavorful and bold– spicy almost. I’ve really only been to Intelligentsia in the Loop, so it was nice to find this great little shop.

If you’re looking for a perfect cup of and don’t might as slight wait– this place is for you! The friendly wait staff walks you thru the delicious options without pretense. The single orgin Ethiopia coffee was brewed over ice was refreshing and delish! I’ve visited their other locations in downtown on Lasalle and Lakeview on Broadway and they are consistently good.

Wandered (and by wandered, I mean targeted Unilocal Search) into this place as it’s near Art Institute of Chicago.
It’s a smaller more intimate spot. Very cute and they serve flat whites! Something I’ve only heard of after working with Aussies.
But really the things you’re wondering — is the coffee good? Yep. Is the Wifi quick? Absolutely.
Everything you need and the convenience of being near where you probably need to go next in Chicago.

Perfect place for a good coffee.
The place is calm, good service.
I had a great Macchiato — with soda water.
Truly recommended.

Excellent coffee, and a true, proper cappucino, like you get in Europe but seldom find at the big chain coffee joints. It’s a little spartan in terms of décor, but who cares with coffee that damn good.

Love it. Trying v-​60 Guatemala hand brew now. Soooo great! Enjoying with lovely Chicago weather snowing in April after Saturday brunch.

A bit more expensive than the chain coffee places surrounding it but these folks are artisans and the quality is much higher than the assembly line latte you’ll get next door or across the street. An extra star for the simple and comfortable atmosphere as well as for locating in the shadow of the green mermaid that has lost her way.

Fantastic coffee and friendly/​helpful staff. The atmosphere is especially nice because they feature paintings by local artists. This is the place to go for quality and for emphasis on neighborhood togetherness and support. It’s what a coffee venue SHOULD be! My favorite is the macchiato, which is consistently a delicious work of art.

This is one of my favorite stops when I’m visiting Chicago for business. I’m from California where we have excellent craft coffee — Blue Bottle anyone? It’s always a treat to find a great craft roaster and coffee shop when I travel. Intelligentsia is fine but we have that back home so I was excited to discover Bow Truss.
The environment inside is hip and relaxed. The barista was friendly and made an excellent v60 pour over of their Ethiopia. I’ve been to many craft coffee shops in different cities around the country and Bow Truss is definitely up there.

Yes, it’s open, you enter it from the vestibule where you enter Fed Ex.
I’m in love with the tasty and voluptuous coffee and the endearing baristas. Every day they have coffee on their shelves which was roasted within the last week. The variety is quite impressive, though they focus more on a medium roast to accentuate the flavors of the beans. If you’re keen on dark roast like me, more for the fuller body you can get, I recommend french pressing their roasts. This makes for a very bold and more gritty coffee, synonymous with dark roast on my pallet. It’s tough to say choose this roast over that but I’m quite keen on the burundi, hoist, canopy, and the Ethiopia natural.
Shots are tamped by hand with precision and consistency. The two full-​timers who usually work the bar are adept at worldy discussions on art and history while artistically crafting a macchiato with perfection and love… no literally, milk heart and all.
Coffee is offered on drip or via V60 or Chemex. I pray that one day the french press will be added to this list.
The prices are a trifle steep as one would expect from a small chain micro-​roaster but not much more than Starbucks and capable of competing with Intelligentsia quality. I would argue that you should buy your home or office brew from here since it’s one of, if not the, freshest batches in the city and focus on their espresso bar beverages. Which, in high fashion, come with a delicious mineral water to cut the bitter and 86 the sugar.
Looking for a charming new coffee shop with diverse roasts, knowledgeable staff, and a great location, just two blocks from Millenium Park, skip the chains and support the locals!

You will not be disappointed. Their baristas are extremely talented. The space is also really inviting. I ordered a cappuccino made with their special milk… I think it was called 1882. It was amazing!

The coffee is strong and good but don’t expect a lot for the price. The décor is very nice and relaxing. However there were a ton of gnats surrounding the sugar station which is why the three star rating. I’m pretty sure they were there do to the bottle of honey but it’s still something that should be addressed. This alone will prevent me from coming back as there was an excessive amount of gnats. Lighting isn’t the greatest in here so buyer beware you may be fanning gnats to grab a packet of sugar or to get some honey.

While visiting Chicago from Charlotte, My boyfriend and I opted to make this place our first stop for local coffee. We were both pleased with the experience.
The service was very friendly, and the coffee and latte we ordered were delicious. I had a hand poured coffee, the exact roast I can’t recall but it had notes of plum and cinnamon and was delicious; my boyfriend had a latte and although my coffee was great I think the latte was even better — very smooth.
The ambience is clean and crisp. It’s not particularly cozy, and they had a very limited selection of food (really, they only offered donuts, but the barista said they hope to expand that soon). If either of those things matters, you might want to go some place else. But if you’re looking for quality caffeinated beverage at (in my opinion) reasonable prices, this is a good choice.

The baristas have been very friendly the two times I’ve been to this location. The payment app they use has the option to add tip with my credit card, which is awesome since I almost never carry cash. On top of the above factors which are nice, but which don’t relate to the product in any way, I should add that the coffee here (I’ve had two different varieties in a manual pour-​over) is excellent and far better than anything else in the immediate vicinity. Anybody who tells you otherwise probably prefers a PSL from other (more chain-​y) vendors in the ‘hood, and their tastes are obviously suspect…

Buyer beware — they have their pay app set up to automatically add a tip. You must deselect it. The coffee is pricey for what you get. Plus, I’ve tasted better roasts. I do not recommend it. There are better, more affordable coffee shops within the immediate vicinity.

For coffee shop in a foyer the baristas know there job and are willing to try with me other single brews

I paid 7.50 for just a coffee and a muffin, which I gotta admit is a bit excessive, the coffee was good but not great, though the muffin was a sugarplum muffin, which was the first time id ever tried one, and that was pretty good

This coffee shop is great!
I love the location. It’s right across from my work so I can just cross the street and get great quality coffee. Their drip coffee is good, but I like particularly their lattes and cappuccinos.
I really enjoy the environment inside the shop.
Last time I was there, they were playing classical music, and I was surprised they were playing one of my favorite Chopin recordings! So it’s a very relaxing environment.
On top of the great quality coffee and the environment, their employees have been very friendly and have always treated me in a very pleasant way.
Highly recommend this place!

Thought I would try this out to get my cup of morning joe since it’s a few steps closer to my office than the Starbucks at Wabash and Jackson and didn’t seem as crowded. I must not understand the concept. First, no prices listed. Second, they only had one type of coffee brewed, a medium roast, when I like dark roast. Third, the cost was almost double the price for a cup equivalent to a tall. Fourth, they only had one container of some unmarked cream or milk. It might have been pure cream, ½ and ½, skim milk, soy, anything. Just took a chance and poured whatever it was in. Finally, the sleeve on my traveler didn’t fit, and kept sliding up (perhaps they had multiple sleeves I didn’t notice). Lastly, on checkout with a credit card, I had to make an election on tips in front of the cashier. A little too pushy for me.
As I said, I must not understand the concept.

The store leader did everything right, including bottomless porta filters. Their Ethiopian is the best espresso I have had in a long time.