Columbia's Coffee Cafes: Sweetwaters Coffee & Tea

Day 1: Sweetwaters Coffee & Tea

Today, I tried Sweetwaters Coffee & Tea located under the Empire Apartment complex at 1002 Park St.

Coffee Selection

I chose to try the triple Iced Creme Caramel described as "caramel coated vanilla latte over ice" with no whipped cream and 2% milk. This came out to be a total of $6.77.

Ratings

Taste- 6.5/10

This latte was on the bitter side, considering it was supposed to be both caramel and vanilla. I also got very minimal caramel flavor, and it tasted more like a slightly sweetened latte. However, it did have a decent milk-to-coffee ratio, and I could truly taste the espresso (which sometimes gets overshadowed by the milk). 

Atmosphere- 8/10

Sweetwaters has a nice mix of indoor and outdoor seating with a modern feel. They have multiple small tables, a few larger tables, and a couch for group study. Everything was clean and felt well-kept. The workers were super nice too!

Affordability- 5/10

$6.77 (pre-tip) is on the pricier side, and for a broke college student, it makes it hard for me to justify buying this. However, I do know this is rather normal for an iced latte in the economy today. 

Overall- 6.5/10

I would say this coffee shop is better than average, but not worth a special trip.

I have attached here the website:

https://www.sweetwaterscafe.com/sc-columbia-park-st/