Black Cup Coffee — Restaurant in Alaska

On a busy Sunday afternoon the staff was too busy to get my order right, but made it a priority to stop making drinks and harass a man that had quietly walked in to presumably find a spot to sit before ordering. They stopped the man to inform him he'd need to buy something to be permitted to stay, "that will be $2.50 for a cup" one barista told the man who acknowledged the statement, then proceeded to find a spot to sit down. At this point that same barista stopped serving the long line of customers and began to ask the now seated man to show him the money. Quietly the man slowly began searching his pockets for requested $2.50($2.50 for cup of drip coffee! but thats a different complaint). The man couldn't find the money. When I offered to buy the man his cup, I was told that would not be allowed by the barista. I gave a few dollars to the man his cup and left. Not long after, the man exited and walked off.

The man was dressed in all dark clothing and carried a small backpack. If you care to judge a person by their appearance, you may determine this man may very well be homeless. So here is my problem. If a well dressed woman had walked in talking loudly on her cellphone had walked past the counter to use the bathroom before paying, would they have stopped her? If an overly enthusiastic man came in and recognized a friend in the back, threw his hands in the air and yelled to their friend across the room until they noticed them, then sat down to continue taljing so loud that eveyone coyld hear, would the barista stop serving waiting customers to demand $2.50? No, no they would not.

Black Cup cares more about kicking out undesirables than providing good service. Service isn't even good when they aren't slammed. They are so pretentious you'd think you were in Seattle. I'll never give another cent to...

I would like to have given a better review because the coffee was superb. What holds me back from giving a better rating is the total lack of interaction by the staff... I didn't get any kind of greeting, smile or even an acknowledgement of my presence. Once I placed my order the gentleman asked here or to go and my name. End of this part of the experience. No thank you or anything.. It was 3 in the afternoon and perhaps they needed a break or whatever excuse I need to try and search for.. Next stop getting the large Americano. At this point I expected little and was not disappointed... But now to the point of my final realization that these wonderful young people are just not personable. With my coffee in hand I went to do the fixing part, which for me is just a slight coloration of cream which is half and half actually, but it was empty.... So I returned to the counter, where the lady was finishing up an order with the empty container.. Though I was but two and a half feet from her I received no eye contact or recognition of being there at all.. I wasn't sure if she could see me or just had enough people in her life for one day... She finished up with the other guest and turned the cold shoulder to me and began to rinse her equipment. My friend had been seated and was finishing up a rather nice looking Danish?? Then my still muted server started to move away from me and the counter.. I was not sure if I had to call her attention to me or just give up on my quest for cream. As she walked around the back of the work space she fetched a container and filled my container . She never once said a word to me but I thanked her and helped myself to the half and half and replaced the container to the station where I found it... But the coffee was good even though I found the rest of the experience less...

This brand is an impersonator of specialty coffee. It offers the vibe and prices of a specialty shop without the product to back it up.

UPDATE Cafe Remodeled March 2025 - remodel is underwhelming. You can now see the cracked concrete floor which leaves an echoey air reminiscent of KBC cafes. The Ted Kim mural is now vibrant with the partitions removed. I would "Emphasize" the first paragraph in this review.

Service has dropped to the almighty low of waiting 19 min and 22 seconds for a doppo. Doppo was undrinkable due to extreme under extraction. I was not engaged by any staff outside of the register. Staff showed no urgency to move through the drink orders.

Most (if not all) of the whole bean coffee is the same origins, the same profiles, and is roasted on the same machine as the coffees offered by Kaladi Brothers Coffee (who wholly owns Black Cup). The difference is you get a 12 oz bag for about the same price as the 16 oz bags you get at Kaladi. If you enjoy Black Cups coffee buy it at Kaladi for a better price per oz.

The espresso machine is an outdated extraction tool that has been cobbled together from two different broken machines. The machine lacks pre infusion and pressure profiling which are almost basic expectations in a modern specialty cafe. These features allow levels of flavor to be extracted that are not possible on older machines.

There is so much KBC branding within the cafe it makes you wonder if the company is actually committed to the...