Cup of Joe and Sidecar Coffee

By: Hanna Sanderman

Sidecar Superfan: Coffee shop on Hill soothes soul

As senior Maddy Wright walked into Sidecar on a Monday evening, it’s easy to see she loves the place.

Waving to fellow customers while walking up to order, greeting both baristas once she reached the counter, it’s hard to imagine that there was ever a time when Sidecar wasn’t a part of her life.

She first encountered Sidecar one Sunday last year driving around after church. “I was super bored, and when I’m bored, I look for new things to do,” Wright said.

Driving down College Hill for the first time, she saw a cute coffee place and decided to stop in. “I came in, and I immediately fell in love,” Wright said.

The environment is what first drew her in. However, the people and coffee are what keep her coming back.

“There’re so many great people here. I’ve seriously met half my friends here,” Wright said.

Saying Sidecar is the best coffee around is a bold statement, but one Wright is not afraid to make. ”I just love their coffee, and I personally just love the lattes more than any other place I’ve visited. The Frank Sinatra is my favorite latte,” Wright said. “They just have so many different kinds of coffee here, and it’s so unique, and I love it.”

For coffee newbies, Wright recommends lattes. “Ones that have lots of flavor to them are a lot more appetizing than like straight black coffee, which not a lot of people have the tastebuds for,” Wright said.

Sidecar became much more than a coffee shop with amazing lattes to Wright this last summer when she was diagnosed with major depression disorder and anxiety. “It was just really hard to leave my house and be around people,” Wright said. “For some reason whenever I was here, it was just so much easier to talk to people. It was so nice to just sit down, drink some coffee, laugh and talk to great uplifting people.”

Growing up at the Cup: Fan’s tastes mature since childhood

Sitting down to enjoy her Cafe Au Lait on a chilly Friday night, junior Summer Pieters seems to know Cup of Joe like the back of her hand.

Which makes sense knowing that her first trip to the spot was in elementary school. “My mom brought me here after yoga one day,” Pieters said. “I had hot chocolate because I only drank hot chocolate from here for a long time. I got the whipped cream, the sprinkles and I just sat here and talked with my mom. It was very fun. I fell in love with this place right away.”

Now a self-proclaimed Cup of Joe fanatic, Pieters especially loves coming to the Cup not only for the coffee, but for the atmosphere. “It’s not like any other place in Cedar Falls,” Pieters said. “There’s a lot of character inside the shop and outside the shop. It feels like I’m in a different city and not in Iowa.”

Of course, the coffee isn’t too shabby either. Pieters said she believes the high quality of the drinks has to do with the baristas. “They care a lot about the coffee that they give you, so they pay attention to the beans that they brew, where they get it from and that’s really important to me,” Pieters said.

Cup of Joe has new seasonal specialities so frequently that Pieters said it’s hard to choose a favorite. “They have something new all the time, but I always go back to, it’s really basic, but the Cafe Au Lait with Wake Up Joe, which is like their normal cup of coffee, I would say,” Pieters said.

With the cozy, homey environment Cup of Joe provides, it’s no wonder why Pieters frequents the shop. “I come here with my friends a lot. This is a place I meet people a lot,” Pieters said. “If I come here alone, which I do that a lot too, I usually read and get some homework done. I’m usually distracted. I can keep busy here.”

Coming to the Cup “a lot” for Pieters means about once a week. “I’m not a person who has a lot of free time, so I would say I spend a lot of the free time that I do have here,” Pieters said. “If I could, I would be here every day.”