The opening of Temple’s new Charles Library brought with it not only a robot to deliver your books and an outdoor greenhouse terrace, but a new coffee shop called Stella’s, located on the first floor. The café runs all throughout the day from 7:30 a.m. to 10:00 p.m. and serves coffee from La Colombe, a well-known Philadelphia based coffee company.
Being the coffee addict that I am, I immediately tried various items from the café to see if it was up to par with some of my all-time favorites at Temple.
My conclusion: a little overpriced, somewhat overrated, but an overall convenient location and an efficient choice if you’re looking for a pick-me-up while studying.
The menu prices are similar to those of Java City in the TECH center or Saxby’s with the majority of their coffees, which are 16 to 24 ounces, ranging from three to five dollars. If you ask me, it’s a little overpriced compared to other places on campus. One of my staple drinks is a venti iced vanilla coffee with cream at Starbucks which costs $3.40 and is larger in quantity at 24 ounces. Not only does Starbucks have a comparable, if not better, taste than Stella’s coffee, but you get more for your money.
The coffee itself could also be better in my opinion. Maybe that’s because I live off of Richie’s iced coffee, which is perfectly sweet with a slight coffee taste, but the coffee at Stella’s isn’t nearly as much of a sugar fix. None of their coffees come with the flavored syrups that you’ll find at almost every other coffee place on campus and even drinks that are generically sweet, such as the mocha or latte, have an extremely dark coffee taste. If you’re a coffee connoisseur taking a break from your cups of black coffee, Stella’s might be a nice refresher, but otherwise, it might be smart to stick to an iced coffee from the Bagel Hut.
However, the location of Stella’s within the library and the minimal lines that you will encounter make for an efficient choice overall if you’re studying and need caffeine to stay awake. Almost all coffee places on campus close at around 8 p.m., making Stella’s the stand-alone place for late night study sessions.
While Charles comes with four floors with brand new spaces to study, I’ll be leaving my caffeine fixes up to some of our other coffee places on campus. Although Stella’s is convenient and adorably tucked within the library itself, the coffee just doesn’t do it for me.