Roast Coffee Company

2132 E. Locust St., Milwaukee

My life is a roast! That’s an expression that means something like, “My life is a travesty”—but has nothing to do with this coffee shop, which is a great little place—exactly what you want from a college town spot. I say college town because it’s a few blocks from the University of Wisconsin-Milwaukee campus—more or less in the heart of a neighborhood populated by a lot of college students. You can tell because in the front yards are those wooden things with holes that you throw beanbags through while drinking beer. And that’s usually who you’ll see here—single young people, often working on laptops—but then sometimes a small group—it’s an ideal meeting place. In my notebook (the paper kind) I wrote that the espresso was “tasty,” so I’ll go with that. They’re open every day—and until 6pm—so that’s some functional hours. They have a website—I checked to see if it indicated when they were established—2004! I thought it felt like they’ve been around a while—and guess what? That’s twenty years!

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