NC Triangle Bucket List

Cocoa Cinnamon

First stop on the Triangle Bucket List: Cocoa Cinnamon!

Checking out Cocoa Cinnamon for my TriangleBucketList
First stop on the #TriangleBucketList!
Checking out Cocoa Cinnamon for my TriangleBucketList
I wasn’t the only one taking advantage of a warm drink on this dreary day.

Cocoa Cinnamon is a Durham coffee shop. I’ve been several times before, so this wasn’t a first visit, but I tried to notice things as if it was. I really like Cocoa Cinnamon – it’s a great place to go and people watch. It feels very Durham-y to me:  the clientele is made up of all kinds of people, the employees are super friendly, and they’re all about sustainable practices and living wages and buying local.

Cocoa Cinnamon offers a wide variety of teas, coffees, and espresso drinks. I ordered one the specialty lattes, the Al Mokha, which has chocolate in it and smells like cinnamon. It’s the kind of drink that you just want to sip and savor, not drink while you work. Its flavor was complex and rich, with a depth reminded me more of a chocolate stout than a mocha. I love chocolate and coffee/espresso, but it was so rich that I’m glad I ordered the 8oz instead of 12oz!

Checking out Cocoa Cinnamon for my TriangleBucketList
Al Mokha, one of their specialty lattes

Checking out Cocoa Cinnamon for my TriangleBucketListIt’s a cozy small place, a converted garage or gas station. In warm months they open up one of the walls into a covered patio area with twinkly lights- it’s got a great vibe in the summer and evenings for coffee dates. Unfortunately on the day I went it was cold and drizzling, so I didn’t get to enjoy the outside seating. That being said, on a wet weekday morning it was full of young adults almost universally working on laptops. But it’s a good level of buzz in the air between people ordering, good music in the background, and the sounds of the espresso machine doing its magic. Maybe not the best for quiet thinking, only because it fills up fast and you’re sitting less than a foot from the person next to you. Overall a great place to work and chat!

Checking out Cocoa Cinnamon for my TriangleBucketListThe staff was really friendly. The guy taking orders was very likable and joked with me, and I overheard him more than once answering menu questions and making an effort to make sure customers got what they wanted.

My take: high quality coffee with interesting specialty lattes. Good ambiance for getting work done, and great for friend-time on the patio on warm days or nights.

Checking out Cocoa Cinnamon for my TriangleBucketList
If you look closely, you can see the namesake spices!

What’s your favorite Triangle coffee shop? Where should I go next?

Stay tuned for more #TriangleBucketList posts soon!


all images original to Teaspoon of Nose 

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