Love is in the air — or is it the smell of coffee? Either way, local coffee shops have been brewing up February drink specials with lots of love.
Reagan Wiley, an employee at Joyce and Joe’s Cornerstone Cafe, said the baristas craft the weekly drink specials in their spare time at work.
They currently have the Cherry Pie Chai, a cherry-flavored chai, and a Cupid’s Latte which has white chocolate and strawberry syrup.
“The Cupid’s Latte is definitely my favorite,” Wiley, dual major in sociology and psychology, said. “It’s similar to our Sweetheart Mocha, but I like it because it’s fruity and sweeter.”
The Cornerstone Cafe will be running the drinks until Feb. 17, but don’t fret — they usually come out with new drink specials every week.
“In the next few weeks we’ll start having green-themed drinks,” Wiley said. “We’ll at some point have a mint-Irish cream latte, a green-apple lemonade and a lavender-lime Red Bull.”
Wiley said the Red Bull drinks are new this semester and there will be new flavored Red Bull drinks to try weekly.
“This place is awesome,” Wiley said. “Students compliment the drinks all the time, saying it’s their favorite place to go on campus.”
Alexis Webb, senior in biology, said she never had coffee from the Cornerstone Cafe before trying the Cupid Latte.
“It’s really good. Normally I like to go off-campus to get coffee and study, but I want to come back for another,” Webb said.
Webb said one of her favorite spots is Radina’s on the Hill, which has its own Valentine’s-Day-inspired menu.
Radina’s is currently running four different February drinks and a Heartbreaker Coffee Flight. The four drinks are a Mint Kiss Mocha, made with strawberry, mint and chocolate, the Sweetheart Latte, made with cherry and almond, the Raspberry White Mocha and the Red Hot Tea Latte. The flights come with a Mint Kiss Mocha, a Sweetheart Latte, a Raspberry White Mocha and a Black Forest Mocha.
Marissa Newman, an employee at Radina’s on the Hill, said her favorite February drink is the Sweetheart Latte.
“We run new specials every month,” Newman said. “Next month we’re looking at doing a Lavender drink and a Honey Nut Cheerio drink.”
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Another local coffee hotspot, The Dusty Bookshelf, is also selling exclusive drinks this season.
“We’ve been running a Red Velvet Mocha,” Jordyn Coonrod, junior in biology and employee at The Dusty Bookshelf, said. “It’s a sweet coffee. It’s extra chocolatey and has red velvet syrup.”
In addition, The Dusty Bookshelf has different limited-time syrups customers can request in their drinks. Right now, they have red velvet mocha, almond and bourbon vanilla.
Coonrod said the drink will be purchasable until the end of February and a new drink special will replace it for March.
Lily Vincent, senior in history and business and employee at The Dusty Bookshelf, said they also sell rotating book-themed drinks.
“We’ll pick a book and create a drink based on what flavors match the book’s vibe,” Vincent said. “Right now we have a drink based on ‘The Girl Who Played with Fire’ which has honey and a spice powder.”
Any of these drinks are the perfect blend to cozy up with, and while Valentine’s Day is over, the season’s festivities are not. While steamin’ hot Valentine’s Day dates have passed, customers can still find a steamin’ hot latte before the month’s end.
