Cafe Monte Alto

Over extracted espresso, or poorly roasted beans? Either could explain the bitter and burnt taste. Vanilla chai is a cup of sugar. Quality matters people.

Excellent coffee and great service. After a couple days of arriving in town, my coffee was ready before it was even my turn in line.
The only downside? The tourists. Ugh. It’s like they’ve never seen a line before. Can’t hold that against Monte Alto, though.

When I’m in Plymouth, I always stop off at Café Monte Altofor a great latte. My wife will only drink the Dark Roast and recently I ordered two bags to be shipped to MD. Two business days later, I received the coffee. My wife will only drink Monte Alto coffee. Keep up the great customer service and wonderful coffee. It’s great to support a family owned business, even if they are 513 miles from my house.

I enjoyed my visit to Café Monte Alto this morning and as this was my first visit, I was very impressed. I was cordially greeted, my order was taken by a very friendly young lady and my drink was prepared correctly and quickly. What more could you ask for?
I ordered an iced double Americano and was surprised when they offered «coffee cubes» instead of ice cubes for my drink! I also had a chocolate chip and peanut butter pastry square which was fresh and delicious.
All of the staff were just great and I’m glad that I found Café Monte Alto!

Great coffee and hot chocolate. Fair trade, quick service, and strong coffee.
Can’t go wrong here and the coffee ice cubes is the greatest idea something Dunkies should take notes on!
Also a part of Chase st. Market which has great food and beer selections.
Will definitely be getting coffee from Monte Alto again!

When is freezing cold outside in NH, and you need to warm up this is the place to stop in. You can get absolutely anything wonderful you can imagine here. Dirty Chai and vanilla Americanos are my two favorite drink choices here. They have some pretty delicious muffin choices as well. :) if you haven’t tried them out… Well better latte than never. ;)

The hidden gem of Plymouth! Always a go to coffee stop for my husband and I when we are passing through. Iced Americano is to die for. I love how there ice cubes are made with iced coffee! So so good. My drink is an iced Americano with cinnamon powder and cream.

This is an outstanding place. It’s a store mixed with a deli, a coffee shop and a liquor store.
I had a sandwich form the deli, bought beers, had a latte and chocolate.
Everything was delicious.
The 2 ladies working at the coffee shop were extremely knowledgeable about their coffees and teas.
They also have a wide selection of beers and a «create your own» 6 pack of beer. Basically, you pick 6 different bottles (a lot of craft beers) and create your own six pack for 10 bucks.
Can;‘t go wrong.
Wish I lived near this place.

Love all of their beverages– prices are reasonable and their sitting areas has a nice ambiance~ reminiscent of university. I enjoy the change of pace from Dunkins.

We needed some caffeine for the long ride home, so we stopped here and glad we did. We were there an hour before closing, and ordered expresso and lattes to have in the store from a nice person behind the counter. I liked the real mugs you got. And our drinks were yummy. But what I was not impressed with was the young girl vacuuming. It was totally rude and we were not the only customers sitting in the store area. There was plenty of time to do the little area after everyone left.

Best coffee shop in plymouth. The coffee is exceptional along with the service. I am very impressed with how nice and smart the staff is – moving from seattle, I am picky about coffee shops. This place ranks up there with the coffee shop I frequented in Seattle (if not better!) After a couple times going there, the barristas knew my name and had my drink ready before I could even order. Great service.

Typically I leave after getting my extra large caramel latte, but today I decided to sit to write a review.
Monte Alto is located on Main Street right next to a pizza place on the Plymouth State University campus. The coffee is very reasonably priced for the quality, albeit the portion sizes are very small. Their extra large (~20 ounces) is smaller than a Starbucks large and much smaller than a Dunkin Donuts large. That said, $ 2.95 for their extra large is fair.
When I did a taste test versus the café in the Lamson Library a short distance away Monte Alto was the winner. The library café claims to serve Starbucks coffee, but from my experience is worse than any actual Starbucks coffee I’ve had. One of the baristas there is terrible at making coffee and they use crushed ice instead of cubed which does make a difference. Normal Starbucks still trumps Malto Alto. A bonus Malto Alto has is they use coffee ice cubes for extra flavor. I normally suck on my latte long after their done, which I couldn’t stand the bitter taste from the coffee ice cubes at first, but it has grown on me.
The space is rather small, with a couple tables, high tables, mediocre cushion seats and a couple of places to sit outside. They seem to use actual coffee mugs for some orders and sells PSU commutable mugs (I wish they sold one for lattes). On one of the walls are a couple dozen photographs giving a hipster vibe, which is a portion of their customers. It’s almost always noisy inside, I’m sure partially caused by sharing the other side with a convenience store/​town market/​whatever. They have some towels hanging over their stand and a «No Northern Pass» sign in their window.
My two main complaints are I’ve had multiple orders completed wrong and they serve no food to go with their coffee. I’m pretty sure two incidents were from someone new but not the other (s). The staff is otherwise pretty laid back and cute. Regarding the lack of food, now that Starbucks has something good to eat other places need to step up.
Overall it has a nice local feel and good coffee.
UPDATE 11÷4÷13: This morning an employee forgot to add the flavor I asked for and payment. Next time a mistake is made I’m complaining.
FURTHER UPDATE: Apparently in the past they gave a discount for reusable mugs, but that is no longer the case. Starbucks gives ~10 cent discount.
UPDATE 3: They do sell some baked bread, like banana and zucchini.

Cute place. Very good coffee. I had a white chocolate mocha latte. Prices were good $ 3 for a medium. Two cons… Cash only and they don’t really have a menu so for someone who’s never been there it was a little hard to order.

This is my favorite coffee in the Plymouth area. All due respect to Mad River, which I like as well, the coffee at Café Monte Alto is just a little bit better. Every time I’m in Plymouth, I make it a point to stop in and grab a cup of joe from here. I’m also a fan of care they take to get the best product while support farmers in Peru. This level of humanity makes my coffee taste that much better.

Warm, local atmosphere, good service, outdoor/​indoor seating. They offer fair trade coffee (their family owns a farm in South America) and other drinks such as hot cocoa (creamy and delicious!), chai and tea. As mentioned in another review, they used frozen coffee as ice cubes for iced coffee, which makes for a nice strong drink — brilliant idea! Get there early for the best selection of baked goods. I love the pumpkin bread in particular.

Coffee is great. They were out of decaf and the breakfast blend when I arrived– were promptly brewed. Very tasty, but the set up with chase market is a little strange.
Good college town coffee shop with free wifi.

You can’t go wrong with a coffee shop that:
1. is Fair Trade
2. keeps its prices low
3. uses frozen coffee as ice cubes so that your iced coffee won’t get watered down.

Simply the best! I’m a regular and picky as hell but I’ve got nothing to complain about here.

Delicious lattes and great steamers for the kids — prices are totally reasonable too. They were kind enough to allow one of my kids to sample their soy milk as it was a brand we hadn’t tried before. They also made my smallest a ½ size hot cocoa and only charged us a teeny, teeny bit for it. Would totally go back again.

It takes about 50 steps to make coffee, from planting the right seed in the right place, to cultivation, harvest, and processing. Then it is shipped, roasted, brewed, and poured. It is rare to find a shop in the United States where every step is controlled by the same family; Monte Alto is such a shop, and the care for the land, farmers, and coffee is reflected in the cup — a real gem in the heart of Plymouth, NH, just across from the PSU campus.
I had the peaberry — exquisite! I look forward to a return visit.