A review of Third Drop Coffee

Since coming to college my caffeine intake has skyrocketed. I practically run off of various coffee drinks and since becoming a barista I have also become quite the coffee snob. Gone are the days of me going through the Starbucks drive-thru, in place of a much more sophisticated taste. 

If you are anything like me, or hopefully are willing to change your ways, you have realized that the big coffee corporations just do not cut it when it comes to quality. In a quest to find quality coffee shops I have decided to take to the streets of Fargo. 

Over the next few weeks I will be examining local coffee shops and reviewing them based on taste, quality and atmosphere.

Drinks

I thoroughly enjoyed my drink, that being a hot dirty chai, but unfortunately that was not what I ordered. To keep on theme I had planned to try a food item, get a hot chai tea latte and try an espresso shot, in order to judge all the shops on an equal level with the same items.

The barista, unfortunately, fell for the teen girl stereotype order of a dirty chai, which has been becoming increasingly popular. I had ordered a small hot chai and a shot of espresso, clarifying the ‘and’ because I did not say ‘with’. 

The espresso in the dirty chai did seem to taste on the bitter side, but I will not rate the espresso from Third Drop as I can not confidently comment on its integrity without trying it on its own.

Do not get me wrong the dirty chai was amazing and on its own I would rate it a 4/5, but considering I ordered two separate drinks and got one I was thoroughly disappointed and would rate the overall drink experience a 2/5. 

Food

I ordered a ham, colby and cream cheese sandwich on an everything bagel. I am not sure how they usually serve these and it could just be me ordering wrong, but it came cold. I am not a fan of raw bagels, yes raw, that is what I call untoasted bagels. 

The taste was amazing and overall I’d rate the sandwich a 3/5 but I could have been a 5/5 if I was not given a raw bagel sandwich. 

On my way out I decided to try something sweet with the hopes of giving the barista the benefit of the doubt. I got a huge monster cookie that was surprisingly only $2. 

The cookie was homemade and a 5/5 for sure. Third Drop had a wide variety of different pastries and goodies, all of which looked amazing and I would definitely go back for. 

I would rate my food experience a 4/5 strictly for the sweets. I recommend going for the sweet options as they have a huge selection that will hit any mark you are craving. If you must go for a sandwich, I would recommend asking them to heat it up.

Atmosphere and Overall

The atmosphere of Third Drop was amazing. There were people coming in and out and lots of different styles of seating perfect for business meetings, meeting a friend for coffee or even doing hours of homework.

The shop was busy but not loud. It is the perfect amount of hustle to keep you awake and energized. 

I have been to Third Drop before and had far better experiences but sadly I was not as impressed with the food and drink as normal. I will definitely go back again and I truly believe that it was just a misunderstanding with the drinks, although I still think the sandwich not being warmed was strange. 

Overall, I rate Third Drop a 3/5. The atmosphere is much better than most shops I have been to in Fargo and although I was given the wrong drink it was still amazing. Again, get something sweet if you go because they do sweet very well.