staying caffeinated in asheville

asheville's got a lot. From unique art stores, to every cuisine imaginable, one could spend days and never run out of new things to see and try. When it comes to coffee there seemed to be endless places to try. So me and some friends decided to go on a downtown asheville coffee hop to try some of their most popular spots, and let's just say it did not disappoint!

1. Flora + Forage

Flora is located about 5 minutes outside downtown Asheville off of Haywood road. The really cool thing about this place is that it's a plant shop too! We walked in and were just floored at the floor to ceiling greenery everywhere. This place was beautiful.

They had a great variety of houseplants, succulents, ferns, flowers, and more! They had the most adorable terrariums and if I had an endless supply of money every single one of them would be coming home with me. The plant side of the shop is called Flora, and the coffee side is called Forage. They had a cute lil setup with one espresso machine, 4-5 homemade syrups, and a huge tea selection, and a small pastry case with locally made treats. Our group decided we would get 1-2 drinks at every place so we could try lots of things and not die from the amount of caffeine we would be consuming in the late afternoon. We ordered a Rose, Cardamon, Honey latte with oat milk and guys. this was one of the top 5 drinks I've had. It was so good. the perfect balance of sweetness and flavor, and the oat milk they use is my favorite brand so it made the drink so creamy. They get their espresso from Counter Culture Coffee, which also has locations in Asheville, and typically I'm not the biggest fan of their coffee but it was really good in this drink. The drink was around $6.50 for a 16 oz, so a bit pricey in my opinion, but you are paying for more than just the drink too. They had great seating options with lots of hanging plants and light from the windows so it would be a perfect place to meet a friend or study. Overall I'd give this place 9/10 because it was so cute and the coffee was wonderful!

2. Double D's Coffee and Desserts

This next place is an iconic piece of downtown Asheville that you simply can't miss. Double D's Coffee bus. This is a super cool double decker red bus turned into a coffee shop with

great outdoor seating and a second story that can be rented out for parties, meetings, and more. Double D's had a great selection of coffee, teas, lemonades, and smoothies.

We didn't want to only get coffee on this trip so we decided to get two non-coffee drinks here. First up was a smoothie that I completely forgot that name of but it had the word summer in it lol. It consisted of strawberries, banana, mango, peaches, and pineapple. The smoothie was good but it tasted like something we could easily make ourself, so 6/10. Next we decided to try one of their specials in the tea and lemonade department and settled on the lavender blackberry swirl lemonade. I really enjoyed this drink. You could taste every component of this drink. It was a little sweet for me but still very good as it was. Unfortunately I didn't get any pictures of the drinks we tried but we all liked this place. Their prices were about average for downtown Asheville but not over priced. Double D's gets an 7/10 and I'd love to go back to try their coffee!

3. High Five Coffee

High Five Coffee has two locations just in downtown Asheville and a very unique menu which I loved. They have coffee and tea but do not shy away from getting super creative with their drinks. Like Flora + Forage, High Five sources their beans from Counter Culture Coffee which had a location about 5 minutes away. They have specialty drinks throughout the year and feature a different barista made drink under Barista's Choice every two weeks to allow customers to enjoy a baristas own special favorite. I'm a barista and I think this concept is so cool. As baristas, we often enjoy some creative drink that's not typically on the menu. I mean sometimes, and I mean sometimes, I'll enjoy a caramel latte but usually I

make myself something completely different. I love

it when people ask me to make them my favorite

drink and they absolutely love it. The sad part is when they try to re-order it but I'm not there to make it so someone else has to put the pieces together! The barista's choice drink for this week looked good, but I was eyeing a drink that someone had recommended to me. It was called The Storm. It was an iced americano with honey, sea salt, cinnamon, and, the twist, cayenne pepper. I subbed oat for the half and half because I'm lactose intolerant, and it fit so well with all these flavors. At first the drink is not spicy but give it a sec, it will hit the back of your throat and you'll feel it. I personally love spicy things so this didn't bother me but some people didn't like the spice. This was one of the most unique drinks I've tried. We also got a matcha drink that had matcha, lime juice, sparkling water, and coconut. I do not like matcha but it wasn't bad, very refreshing actually. I much preferred the coffee though and drank it until the last sip was just the cayenne pepper that floated to the bottom. Now that made my throat really burn:) I'd give High Five a 10/10 personally. They had wonderful variety with very unique drinks and great prices too. My drink with oat milk was right at $5 which is very reasonable.

By this point it was around 5 and we wanted to do some shopping and get some actual food before making the drive back. We stopped at White Duck Taco (shrimp bangkok forever) and grabbed some desserts at Old Europe and ice cream at Ben and Jerry's. You could spend all day ( and all your paycheck) coffee hopping in Asheville. We simply touched the surface. Definitely leave time to walk and shop and take pictures with your friends because life is too short to miss out on those memories. I'm very thankful for these people and all the fun we had together. I will definitely be doing this again!

Thanks for tagging along this coffee adventure! Follow my blog for many more to come! Stay caffeinated;)