Sips Espresso Cafe — Restaurant in Athens-Clarke County Unified Government

So I've been to Sips twice at this point. So I love the area! I bike there from downtown and you're surrounded by some cool bars and restaurants, and right by UGA Health Science campus. They have a partial garage situation where they open the windows if it's good weather but can close them in bad weather. They're also pet friendly and have a outside order window. The vibe overall is nice. However, it kind of starts to go downhill from there. The parking situation is abysmal and confusing. Agua Linda controls pretty much the whole lot after 11 am and the signs threaten towing if you park there but don't go to Agua Linda. So where are Sips customers supposed to park? No clue. I parked in a Agua Linda spot lol. The star of the review should be the coffee. To my understanding they serve Jittery Joe's which personally I do not like, so I already typically would want to try somewhere else. First time I went I got a latte and an Italian soda. The Italian soda is so yummy, but also not something terribly special, so I'm not going to spend time on it. They also have baked goods and other snacks, but I didn't get any. The latte was... a latte. I am very neutral on it. There's not a lot of coffee flavor or much else happening, just a latte. Yesterday I got a Mexican Chocolate Latte, which sounded super awesome. I know it's a sweet drink, but it had a strong cinnamon and chocolate flavor, which was an awesome combination. The barista said there was cayenne but I didn't get any of that. However, it was painfully sweet. I drank maybe a third before dumping it out because it was making my teeth hurt. No espresso flavor at all just the world's most oversugared chocolate milk. It was extremely disappointing, and just this drink with whole milk cost me $6.11, which was also disappointing. HOWEVER, the baristas were so nice, very helpful, and extremely patient. Overall I did not enjoy it at all, but I'd recommend it if you like a place to work with some outside time or coffee time with your dog. The vibe is nice, but the coffee...

I had an early appointment at Piedmont cardiology this morning. Since I am definitely not a morning person I felt like a cup of good coffee would be a great idea. There’s a little coffee shop right across from the hospital, so I decided to drop in there and give them a try. The young man working the counter was very helpful discussing the menu. I don’t know much about different kinds of coffees so I always have to ask about them before I order. I opted for a medium latte with sugar-free vanilla syrup. I was glad they had the sugar-free vanilla as many coffee shops that I’ve gone to were always out of it. I guess it’s a popular flavor. Sips had quite a few in-house baked sweets. There were so many yummy looking options; it was hard to choose. The young man recommended the zucchini bread; said it was probably the most popular thing they offered. I ended up buying myself a lemon blackberry scone to have with my coffee plus a fat slice of zucchini bread and an apple scone to take home. Sips has a covered patio out front and another patio on the side. They don’t really have indoor seating although the covered patio out front could be enclosed in the winter for a seating area. I sat outside and enjoyed the morning sun with my scone and my coffee. The coffee was delicious and the scone was wonderful. I don’t get out this way all that often, but when I do, I’m going to stop at Sips again. They...

Solid espresso. I’m pretty snob-ish when it comes to espresso. It’s pretty good. Tried a random syrup, which wasn’t my favorite, with no fault to them I just went out on a whim and should’ve stuck to what I knew I liked. But the espresso itself was made well. My hubs cortadito was heavenly.

For reference, I came at 5 pm and was in and out in less than 5 mins for a triple shot cortado with brown butter toffee syrup, cortadito, and single shot of espresso. Staff was 2 sweet girls, had great recommendations and were a pleasure to speak with. If I was back in college I’d probably get caffeine and study here on...