According to the Food Beverage Insider about two thirds of Americans drink coffee. Many coffee lovers know of many famous coffee brands, like Dunkin Donuts, and Peet’s coffee.
But here in Stockton, we have a variety of local coffee shops that give those globally known companies a run for their money. I wanted to find the best coffee in town, and to do that, I narrowed it down to my top four coffee shops: Starbucks, Dutch Bros, Empresso, and Stockton Coffee Co. In most cases coffee seems to be essential for people’s everyday life. Dutch Bros. and Starbucks seem to be the number one picks here in California.
Starbucks Vs Dutch Bros: Battle of the big names
Starbucks
3.5 Stars
Although there is nothing wrong with Starbucks, I personally prefer Dutch Bros. There are over 10 different Starbucks here in Stockton, and the one I went to was the one on Miracle Mile and ordered a blended peppermint mocha.
There’s nothing wrong with Starbucks flavor-wise and the pricing was average. I just think comparing it to Dutch Bros., it could have for sure been better. The peppermint mocha was good, it blended well, but the peppermint flavor was really prominent, much more than the coffee flavor.
For me personally, the coffee had a good kick to it, but compared to Dutch Bros. it had a lesser kick. At Starbucks, you can mostly just taste the sweetness instead of the actual coffee itself.
The drink was very delicious and tasty and the price wasn’t bad either. For this specific drink the total cost was $6.45 for a grande (medium). The drink was good with a good amount of flavor and with an okay amount of coffee you can taste. Though the presentation of the coffee was good as well as the portion.
Dutch Bros
5 Stars
Dutch Bros. is a coffee company that is very well known in America for their menu of different types of drinks. For this particular visit, I got the seasonal Candy Cane Mocha, which first hits you with a nice coffee taste, and if you don’t mix it you get a lot of peppermint flavor too. I like that it has crushed peppermint on top. I tried to get the drinks that are very similar to each other so I could differentiate the drinks in taste and style.
The drink itself was amazing in my opinion, it had a good amount of coffee and flavor and the candy cane bits in the drink were really good and added to the drink,though for pricing, Starbucks has better pricing between the two, for this particular drink, I bought a medium which cost $7.45.
If the quality of the drink is what you are looking for, then Dutch Bros. does give you a generous amount of product you pay for. In my opinion Dutch Bros hits that craving if you have a need for something to get you up and going!
Local coffee roasters: Empresso Vs Stockton Coffee Co.
Empresso
3 Stars
Empresso is a coffee shop with multiple shops around Stockton, the specific location I checked out was the one on March Ln. Empresso coffee shops are pretty good. Their drinks are very tasty with a good budget, I would say. The coffee there is pretty good as well as the bagels!
Though the only reason I wouldn’t go out of my way to get coffee here is because, in all honesty, it is not really memorable to me. I do like the drinks they make, but quality wise I feel it is average. It is good if you are close to the shop and are in the mood for coffee, though I would not go out of my way to personally get one of their coffees. Nonetheless, it is still a good coffee shop thus making it to this list!
Stockton Coffee Co
5 Stars
Out of all the coffee shops I had tasted and adventured to, Stockton Coffee Co is my personal favorite among them. In my opinion, Stockton Coffee Co.fits everything you would be looking for: great pricing, great quality, and fast service. Stockton Coffee Co. is located on Hammer Ln.with many different varieties of drinks and certain foods you can purchase.
When I went to this shop I had a great time! I ordered two drinks, a small candy cane mocha and a medium hot coffee for only $10.10! It is very affordable, and the quality is very nice. You get so much of the product for such a small amount. In Fact, a Stockton Coffee Co. small drink is close to a Dutch Bros medium. They are very similar to each other in portions. And overall, the quality of the amount of coffee in the drink is very nice, same with the texture of the coffee.
4 stars / 5
So in my opinion between Dutch Bros, Starbucks, Empresso, and Stockton Coffee, Stockton Coffee co would be my top choice and better option because it is affordable, awesome quality and fast service.