Finals week studying have you down? In this week’s installment of Ro&Co, Marianne Dolan shares her top 4 coffee shops to study in around Chicago! Make the most of your reading period and explore the city while you work!
Perhaps you’re not a fan of brutalist architecture. Or maybe it’s just demoralizing that you get more social interaction on the first floor of the library during finals week than you’ve had the entire rest of the quarter. Be antisocial yet adventurous with these gems of coffee shops.
Peach & Green – South Loop
Peach & Green is like the Zendaya of coffee shops. Just as I genuinely wonder if there’s anything Zendaya can’t do (she can literally sing, dance, act, trapeze, and woo Zac Efron), I wonder what this South Loop oasis can’t do for me.
Wanting to feel ~trendy~ and healthy? You can take a ginger turmeric shot. Wishing the weather was more like California and wanting to overcompensate with cold pressed juice? Also in luck. Perhaps you, like me, are so basic beyond denial that you embrace it by regularly indulging in matcha drinks and avocado toast. Again, this place has essentially everything, including matcha lattes and smoothies and three different varieties of avocado toast.
https://www.instagram.com/p/Bessmh_nHjp/?taken-by=peachandgreenchicago
If you just want an honest cup of coffee, good wifi connectivity, and comfy chairs, this café has you covered. They even have great selfie lighting so everyone else can know how productive you are. Peach & Green is the perfect setting to spend the whole day entrenched in work while being peak millennial.
Sawada Coffee
I consider Sawada Coffee not a café but rather a life ideology. Where else can you make a visit post-Soho House brunch (which is right across the street), get coffee, booze, or boozy coffee while eating barbecue brisket under twinkle lights? It encapsulates the work hard play hard mentality that you definitely won’t have this finals season. Still, it’s nice to know that others do have social lives and perhaps one day this could be you.
I know this was a place I would return to the moment I saw multiple different varieties of Chai lattes and tasted their pour over coffee. My one warning is that outlets are rare here as people not adorned in hipster glasses. They exist; they’re just hard to find. I recommend this for the prepared planner who makes clutch West Loop brunch reservations on Open Table and actually remembers to charge their electronics.
Volumes book café
Nothing more makes me feel like I’m in the midst of a Hugh Grant rom com (specifically Notting Hill) than stepping into this cute book store/cafe hybrid. Rather than the warm smile of a movie star, you instead may encounter the stares of confused hipsters who think you’re too mainstream to be at an artsy cafe in Wicker Park.
Still, the moment you taste their coffee or browse their vast selection of tea you will start to feel butterflies as you realize that you can indeed buy happiness. It costs approximately $4 and is otherwise referred to as the best matcha latte I’ve found in Chicago. Bonus points given for the fact that you can spend your study break browsing books you don’t actually have time to read.
Eataly (yes, it’s more than a restaurant)
Hear me out on this. Imagine a morning where you are greeted with the aroma of Nutella and faced with the challenge of whether you get an affogato or the healthier (and still flawless) Italian espresso. Sitting at one of their comfy booths, your greatest dilemma of the day is whether to venture across the street to Shake Shack or ride the escalator and get pizza when hungry.
A different alternative is the strange musk of the A-Level and Domino’s. We’ve all been there, but very few have considered the full potential of Eataly. You can change that this finals week.
Huge thanks to Marianne for sharing her favorite coffee shops! You can follow along with her adventures around Chicago on Instagram @mariannedolan!
Did you try a new workout? Do you have an awesome study hack? You too could be featured on Ro&Co! Shoot me an email xoxorosana@gmail.com or DM me!
How do you prepare for finals? Do you take time to destress? Do you rigorously plan out your schedule?
Let me know on twitter @xoxorosana_blog or tag me in your study plans on Instagram @xoxorosana.blog!
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