RISE Coffee House Profile
3:51 PM
Opened: 2013
Drinks Menu: Traditional espresso offerings, including latte and
macchiato. You can get a mocha or seasonal latte as well.
Food Menu: A few
pastries and lunch items. RISE is moving to a larger space next door,
which will have a full kitchen for preparing breakfast and lunch dishes as well
as pastries.
Espresso Machine: Manual La Marzocco
Brew Options: Several cold brew and hand brew options, including Chemex and a
Kyoto dripper.
Location: The
Grove. The company also has a coffee truck that pops up all over St. Louis.
Rating: 3.5 out
of 5
Specialty drinks: Pay-a-Coffee-Forward board lets you purchase a coffee for someone else to redeem. People in need can then get a free drink. I’ve seen these in other cities, but not in St. Louis. It works with
the shop’s social justice mission: “Coffee, Peace, and Justice for All.”
Review:
In one word: eclectic. RISE is a two-story coffee shop located in a refurbished old brick house in The Grove. The bottom floor is full of little rickety tables and mismatched chairs. The espresso machine and register take up a small corner
and the two baristas working behind it have to squeeze around
each other while they work. Still, they do good work, preparing Kyoto cold
brew, classic batch brew, hand brew, and traditional espresso drinks.
The fun part about this place is the upstairs. The winding
wooden staircase takes you up to a large open area full of old furniture and an odd collection of art. A large portrait of Jon
Stewart hangs on one wall, surrounded by tacky pictures and abstract pieces. Two
beaten up armchairs with the British Union Jack painted on the back are parked
against one wall with the soft light of a table lamp creating a living room
vibe. It looks like the owners did a tour of local thrift stores and rounded up
everything they could find. RISE has the reused (and abused) vibe, which works with the beat up wooden floors and aged brick walls.
Despite the thrift store look, this coffee shop thankfully lacks the thrift store dinginess or funny smell. RISE is always clean. The tables are free of dishes and
wiped off. The floor is swept and mopped. It’s comfortable.
RISE also serves good drinks, usually. When I first started
going, the espresso macchiato was hit and miss. I had some with great foam and
smooth espresso, but a few that were far off the mark. It depended on which
barista prepared it. The inconsistency drove me away.
When I went back recently, I was impressed with
the quality of the drink. I got to speak with Mike, the general manager, about the changes at RISE. He was previously a GM for Kaldi’s De Mun location. I’ve raved before about Kaldi’s organization, so my guess is
bringing on Mike bodes well for RISE's quality and consistency going forward. I’m hopeful and will be back to test that theory.
0 comments