Hello, Bison! I cannot believe I’ve never written about this coffee shop, especially considering that it is right here on campus! The Bison Beanery is a coffee shop located in Residence Dining Center, providing free coffee to all students with a sufficient meal plan. You can get into the dining centers via unlimited meal plans or block plans. You can only take one takeout coffee per meal period, but that means you could take one of these coffees to-go in the morning, at lunch, and at dinner! There is also no limit to how many times you can get coffee in-house. You can get twelve! You just can’t take them all with you.

The seating situation at Bison Beanery is absolutely optimal. Because the coffee shop is in the dining center, there is no shortage of seating options. There are high-tops, round tables, rectangular/square tables, and booths. The actual inside of the Bison Beanery only has low tables, but Res as a whole has everything. The only time I would ever worry about getting a seat is during the Thanksgiving feast. Other than that, I’d say you’re probably set.

I usually write a section about parking at coffee shops, so I will mention it here. There are so few parking spots in front of Res, and they are 30-minute parking only. Because of this, you might have to walk a bit if you are choosing to park. If you do indeed have a correlating parking pass, you could park in the R or the BC lot without too much walking. You could also take the MATBUS, which goes all around campus. The location of the Bison Beanery is super convenient because it is right on campus.

Now, let’s talk coffee. As a coffee fanatic, I am not obsessed with Bison Beanery coffee. However, it is free. It is unlimited. I simply cannot complain—I think that the Bison Beanery is one of the best features of NDSU Dining, and I highly recommend taking full advantage of it. The Bison Beanery does not have my favorite lattes, but there are absolutely ways to spice it up. My go-to last year (while I was living in the dorms) was an iced latte with honey and cinnamon (a cafe miel) with an extra shot of espresso. This coffee was good enough to drink every day, and I did.

The absolute best drink, hands down, guaranteed, is the chai. I love their chai. I want to drink it every day of my life. It’s so good. For the month of October, they have pumpkin chai (they might have it rn I’m not really up-to-date on the beanery anymore), get it every day. Get three every day. Savor it. It could save a life, I swear. The Beanery also has pretty decent iced green tea, especially with a splash of strawberry syrup. So good. I thought I would include some of my classmates’ recommendations as well as mine, so here they are: iced caramel latte, iced chai w/ soy milk, iced chai, iced white mocha w/ hazelnut, chai w/ vanilla, and mocha w/ hazelnut and cinnamon.

Finally, let’s talk staff. The Bison Beanery staff is the Res Dining Center staff. They’re exhausted. They have to deal with stinky college students like us ALL DAY. If they’re having an off-day and can’t smile at you when you say “thank you” for your coffee (say it, gosh darn it), cut them some slack. Be kind. Brighten their day. The Bison Beanery staff deserves the world. They serve you free coffee and do not receive tips. Be so nice to them, please. You can’t tip them, so tip them with your face. Smile. Or else.