Sawada Coffee
Menu
Sawada Coffee is an busy and trendy coffee shop in the West Loop neighborhood.
They have a small menu, but the drinks (Military Latte, Black Camo Latte, High Five Mocha) are immediately enticing once you step inside and see the cozy shop interior for yourself.
Trendy & Curated
First thing to mention in my review - this place is extremely popular and with good reason.
It’s in the busy West Loop area, and while other restaurants are more open and visible especially on a weekend, this cafe is more of a tucked-away gem.
Once you step inside the front door, you are greeted by a waiting area with plenty of graffiti and stickers on the walls and a dimly lit chandelier.
All three of the times I’ve been here, the line was nearly out the door, but fortunately it moves efficiently.
Once you move up a few places in line you see it’s a trendy and artsy coffee bar with some unique drink options, and the drinks and decor definitely reflect that.
The shop is owned by world-renowed (or at least coffee world-renowned…) Hiroshi Sawada, and in 2015 it received recognition as one of the “Best Coffee Shops in Chicago” as well as one of “10 Cool Indie Coffee Shops from Coast to Coast”.
My favorite part would have to be the string lights hanging from the ceiling, large tables that almost seem to encourage you to strike up a morning conversation with other customers, and a large sunken dining area with a Texas style BBQ restaurant providing delicious food.
When visiting, it was also so busy that it it was hard to take pictures of the decor without also taking pictures of other customers, which I don’t normally like to do. So honestly, I didn’t worry about taking too many pictures and instead enjoyed the experience. The overall vibe is something that’s best experienced by visiting!
High Five Mocha & a cookie!
The High Five Mocha is a unique and specialty drink. It’s inspired by their sister restaurant, High Five Ramen. Maybe I should do a review of this place in the future?
Mocha is definitely my go-to coffee, and I remember the first time I tried the High Five it tasted nothing like a normal mocha. The first flavor note is actually orange peel, and it comes across really strong.
That’s because it has sanshō and orange peel added. Sanshō is an intense, aromatic, high toned Japanese spice. I couldn’t tell you exactly what that tastes like because the High Five Mocha tastes strongly like orange, chocolate, and coffee to me, but I’m sure if I get the chance to try an isolated sample of sanshō in the future it would probably be distinct and recognizable.
Either way, I drank my coffee way too quickly - 30 seconds flat - and tried a bite of the chocolate cookie.
The cookie was delicious, of course. I don’t know that I can honestly give a thorough review of a cookie, because it’s just chocolate and powdered sugar. All I can say about it was it was extremely sweet and too much to finish in one serving especially since I had just eaten lunch.
I was also inspired by my Galit Review to get Lion’s Mane mushroom added to my coffee for an extra $3. Normally I get CBD in my coffee whenever it’s an option, but I’ve always heard of Lion’s Mane being a nootropic that supposedly boosts cognitive performance and memory. I’m not sure if I 100% believe all of the claimed effects, but I do know that mushrooms are healthy for you anyway, so maybe I’ll see some marginal effects!
Rating
Overall score: 4.4 out of 5.0 stars
Overall, Sawada Coffee is an amazing coffee shop that gets pretty crowded during peak hours. The inside of the cafe is beautiful, you could really spend all day studying here and having pretty unique coffee flavors that you can’t find anywhere else. I love that you can put CBD or Lion’s Mane in your drink for a reasonable charge (although the coffee is specialty and the price reflects that.) And although I didn’t eat it on this visit, the Texas style BBQ served by Green Street is delicious.