Coffee Hound

This is my local coffee stop. If you must have coffee this is the place to go in BN! I go to either location. I live down the street from Normal but like to trek to the downtown Bloomington location.

Great coffee and service. Classy buildings, nice people, and a Bloomington normal favorite.

Better then Starbucks and at the same price. Plus how can you not support a local business, even if it has inferior employee benefits.

It’s simple: offer amazing, freshly roasted coffee. Homemade baked goodies to complement. Hire the best staff. Stir, and enjoy. Go Downtown Bloomington for ambiance; Uptown Normal for shorter lines and generous seating.

Starbucks? No thank you. The Coffee Hound has been a staple of the caffeinated community of Bloomington-​Normal for over a decade, and for good reason. Visit either location, (uptown Normal, or downtown Bloomington) and ask for a double espresso. Then sit, sip, and enjoy the bustle and ambiance of a great coffee shop. Uptown’s store is vibrant, energizing, and colorful — usually occupied by busy, talkative university types. The downtown Bloomington location has an older, classic, more relaxed vibe that I personally prefer. Both locations offer top-​notch coffee, friendly, knowledgeable staff, and great baked goods. «Third wave?» *puke* Nah, just exceptionally good coffee.

Great little coffee shop in uptown. It’s good coffee, however a little pricey. My large (20oz) French vanilla iced coffee was $ 5+. Overall it’s a nice place and he coffee is delicious!

Coffee Hound is the best coffee place in BloNo. Today I just bought beans to go but usually I get the iced latte, tiger chia or a regular latte. The treats they offer vary by day as they make them in house, the scones are delicious and the strawberry bars are so good I could eat ten of them.
I highly recommend making a trip to the coffee hound. I crave the iced vanilla lattes daily.

My friend is a student at the nearby Illinois State University, and every time I go to visit her, she brings me here for breakfast. I am a big fan of their Red Bird Latte, a specialty latte with a hint of cinnamon. They also have a good selection of breakfast pastries that are reasonably priced.
The baristas are very friendly and even do a little latte art! The shop offers a rewards program that can help regulars earn free food and drinks. Even if you don’t frequent coffee shops, if you find yourself in the area, the Coffee Hound is worth a try.

Great coffee. Being a coffee snob from San Francisco, this is the one place I’ve found in Bloomington/​Normal where they serve good coffee and know what they are talking about. Always packed with young folks — love the vibe!

After some normalization (no pun intended), Coffee Hound has recently gotten much better – perhaps because of some staff stabilization, perhaps due to familiarity with their recently-​implemented PoS system, or perhaps due to improved staff scheduling. Whatever it was, it’s noted. It remains an excellent fixture of Uptown Normal, offering a great selection of their own roasted coffees, specialty drinks, and a few frozen options. The staff continues to be incredibly knowledgeable, and it is the place to see and be seen in Uptown for caffeination options.
A few problems still belabour Coffee Hound, though, most specifically early closings (most nights by 6pm) and limited power outlets. It can also get busy and SRO during certain times (finals/​exam time, homecoming weekend, Uptown events, etc.); but that’s really not their problem and they’ve been better about working through people as quickly as they can.

Ok, so the Hound is the place to go for Coffee in B/​N. As you see from most of the reviews here, the experience is outstanding. A couple of negative reviews note the personalities of the Baristas. I couldn’t disagree more. The staff are all very friendly and engaging. There are times when they are busy (peak periods) and so the barista isn’t going to start a long convo when she’s got six more drinks waiting behind you.
It’s coffee not a cab ride.
All that said, the baristas are artists and as you can note from both your frothy beverage and the displayed plaques, they’ve won many awards. My only criticism is the seating. While far superior to that big chain from Seattle that clearly wants you to get a cup and get out … the Hound has many seats and free WiFI. However, I’m always looking for more power outlets and there have been many times I had to wait for a seat. In some ways this is a testament to the popularity and success. If you live in B/​N and haven’t found the Hound in either downtown Bloomington or uptown Normal, what are you waiting for?

As someone who doesn’t like coffee I had never gone into coffee hound. However my best friend loves it so I went once with him. I had the Italian soda and it was fantastic the amount of syrup was perfect and it was a great Italian soda. If you do not like coffee, coffee hound is still a great place to go to for some great drinks. As well as I have heard their smoothies are fantastic I will try those next!

By far the best coffee in Blono. I miss it when I am up in Chicago over breaks!

An okay tea menu. The green mango was very tasty and I got 3 steepings from the amount of tea they provided.
No vegan or gluten free snacks, but they have about a dozen food options for people with no dietary restrictions.
The space is loud when full of people (echoes) and when you leave, you will definitely smell like stale, bitter coffee beans. But hey, coffee and tea and TONS of chargers for your electronic devices.

Time for an update! Everything in my original review stands, except they’ve fixed the ladies restroom issue, so now five stars.
One thing worth mentioning because not enough people are talking about it, is the quality and diversity of their baked goods. Every day there are fresh-​baked and from– scratch muffins, scones, bagels, cookies, and even gluten free and paleo items if you are into that! If you are staying at the Marriott and are looking for a quick light breakfast, their whole wheat scones will keep you going all morning.
On the weekend they do special items like croissants (the almond one and the chocolate ones are to-​die-​for, plain not as much), cinnamon rolls, pumpkin bread, etc. These sell very quickly so it is worth getting there as early as you can.

I found this establishment to be lacking both in comfort and barista personality.
I have seen many pictures of lattes with unbelievable foam art creations on the top. I thought I would enjoy a little latte art. There was nothing artistic about my drink. Although the person after me clearly knew the barista. They not only got their drink before I did, it was a stunning masterpiece of swirls and a flower looking something like a lotus flower. I had never been here and found the barista to be cool at best (at least after she was done talking to her friend). Seems like you need to be in the ‘in club’ here in order to get pretty dinks and good service. The person that took my order was borderline rude. To top it all off communication between the two was terrible!
I ordered a white chocolate latte with the addition of a flavor syrup. I couldn’t even taste the flavor syrup which leads me to believe it eas never used. Not a problem, people make mistakes. When I brought it back to them I waited and was blatantly ignored for 5 minutes despite saying ‘excuse me’ in a politely audible tone. They told me they put it in and never offered to fix it. I asked if the syrup had a color as raspberry usually has a pinkish red color. They told me again that they used the syrup and did not answer the question. I was not impressed which is a shame since the latte was otherwise enjoyable.
The environment is about what you would generally expect of a coffee shop. Varried table sizes, a few plug ins, art on the walls. However it seemed everywhere I stood or sat in the building had a light hitting me square in the eyes. It makes you wish you had a visor to shield your eyes.
I really hope this was simply an isolated bad experience and when I return for my customary second look after having a bad experience, it will not be the same as the first. Hopefully with better/​more pleasant staff.

All I’ve been hearing is how awesome the coffee hound is from like everyone around and so I thought I’d try it out. First I ordered a iced coffee and was really excited but my excitement died as I was handed a warm coffee. Then I tasted it and it was probably the worst thing I’ve tasted, no amount of sugar would help. But I’d probably come back because hey, it isn’t einsteins.

The common, pretentious attitude many times found in third-​wave era coffee shops is not found at Coffee Hound. Although I was a slow adopter of their delicious coffee, both the Bloomington and Normal locations provide this community with the best coffee in the area.
Maybe it was my palate to begin with, but I had a reluctant attitude when it came to converting from Starbucks. I’m not a very needy coffee drinker, ordering black drip coffee 100% of the time. I had been to Coffee Hound a couple of times, and for some reason I was always turned off by the flavor of the coffee. (It turns out, they are a rarity in where they do not burn their coffee!)
I can safely say that I can only recommend Coffee Hound for excellent, well-​sourced, quality roasted coffee. The ambiance in both locations, although different, are very comfortable with great lighting. The Bloomington store has the luxury of wonderful, high ceilings. Staff at both locations are incredibly knowledgeable and are always willing to share their knowledge about coffee with you.
A true delight for the Bloomington-​Normal community.

This is our go to place on our trip from STL to CHI.
Great staff, always friendly and helpful… They always indulge our little toddler!

Stopped by on a road trip for a pick-​me-​up and was pleasently surprised. I had an iced coffee and my friend had a regular coffee. They let you add your own cream, sugar, or simple syrup. Really great, high quality, tasty coffee. Didn’t try bakery items, but they looked good and homemade.