This week, we visited Grounded Coffee, a coffee shop located on County Line Road in Madison. The coffee shop was simple enough to get to, settled in a smaller strip mall building in front of the Publix. It is located near a neighborhood and is surrounded by other small restaurants and shops.
The Atmosphere: Grounded Coffee Madison Alabama
The atmosphere of this coffee shop was a bit different from previous coffee shops. This coffee shop was quite empty; there was only one other customer there when we arrived, and the numbers stayed quite low for the duration of our stay.
The shop was quiet. There was music playing at a very low volume in the background, and the baristas and customers kept to themselves. We did visit in the afternoon on a Saturday, so the lack of crowd could have been due to our timing.
This coffee shop would be a perfect place to go to get work done or to take a quick, quiet break.
The interior of the shop was decorated nicely, with coffee-related art on the wall, as well as tables, chairs, and a cozy place to sit and relax with more plush furniture. There were plenty of plants around as well.
The Coffee
Grounded is a classic coffee shop, meaning the vast majority of their drinks are espresso based drinks. They do offer some flavored drinks, but the majority of their offerings are simple espresso drinks. As per usual, when we visited, we got a hot drink, an iced drink, and a pastry. This time we also got tea!
The Hot Drink
For our hot drink, we sampled the Chocolate Chip Cookie Latte. Somehow, we managed to get drinks from both sides of the coffee spectrum once again. If you are more interested in a sweet coffee drink that is not necessarily super coffee forward, then a drink like this one would be a good fit for you.
It was sweet and creamy, with a nice chocolate-y flavor. The drink was made with oat milk, which did come through in the flavor, but it was still a nice warm and creamy drink. It was also wonderfully frothy and thick.
The Iced Drink
For our iced drink, we tried an Irish Cream latte. The Irish Cream latte rested at the other end of the coffee spectrum, though it was also nice and creamy, it had a bit more of a bitter, coffee forward flavor. It wasn’t quite as thick as the other coffee drink, and it leaned toward being neutral, not sweet.
The Pastry
We grabbed a blueberry muffin to try for our pastry at this coffee shop. Their pastry selection was a bit slim, but we also visited in the afternoon, and the shop had been open since 6 am, so that could account for the lack of pastries.
The muffin was nice. Not overly sweet, but in a good way. It paired really nicely with both coffee drinks.
The Tea
The tea was a bit of a last-minute addition. We chose the Piper and Leaf Strawberry Shindig.
The tea contained apples, strawberries, hibiscus, rosehips, lemongrass, and spearmint. The tea was caffeine-free, which makes it a good option for parents who may be bringing their little ones along, and Grounded will prepare it ‘fully sweetened,’ ‘half sweetened,’ or ‘unsweetened.’
We chose to get the tea hot and fully sweetened. Possibly the most interesting part of our visit was that the tea came out hot. It was far too hot to enjoy straight away, and it took quite a long while for it to cool off to the point of not burning the inside of our mouths.
Otherwise, it had a very non-offensive, neutral flavor. It was very drinkable, and I think that just about anyone, tea enthusiast or not, can enjoy this tea.
More About Grounded Coffee
This coffee shop is more strictly a coffee shop than some of the others that we have visited. It does not offer any food beyond pastries, so if you’re going in search of something to eat for breakfast, you may want to visit another coffee shop.
The coffee shop is so quiet. If you are going to a coffee shop in hopes of making friends and meeting new people, this may not be the shop for you. But it’s the perfect place to do deep work or have a relaxing morning.
Final Review on Grounded Coffee
If you are looking for a quiet coffee shop where you can hang out and get some work done while you enjoy a nice coffee beverage, this coffee shop is for you! They have coffee drinks that will suit your needs, whether you are a coffee drinker or not, and they have a nice, cozy shop for you to drink it in.
