A 27-year-old Berkeley institution, Strada is a beautiful place, earning it #8 ranking on a list of U.S. college coffee shops. Lots of outdoor seating (but always busy), open late (with pretty lights), free fast WiFi, and right across the street from campus, it’s a popular spot for studying but also a good place to meet and chat. The service is always friendly and fast, so tip them well (as one Yelper pointed out, and you can also see on Glassdoor, their wages are not the highest). I think their coffee drinks are good (and very reasonably priced – only $1.60 for a straight espresso and $2.40 for a cappuccino), and I always enjoy their apple cloud. Also just tried one of their Muffin Revolution yam muffins (flour-free, made with yams, almonds, cage-free eggs, dates, apples, pecans, coconut oil and other good things) which was also good.

Even though they are not perfect (like the wage issue above – help with that by tipping them!), I’m giving them 4/5 green stars for social and environmental responsibility based on the following. Their coffee is a blend of organic fair trade beans from McLaughlin Coffee in Emeryville. Their chocolate (they have been credited with the invention of the white mocha by the way!) is from Guittard. But one thing that really stands out is their approach to reducing coffee cup/lid waste: their coffee is priced for your own cup (or one of their glasses) and they add 15 cents if you want a disposable cup. They have several signs highlighting this charge and I think it works better than offering a cup discount. I think this a great way to make people think twice about single-use coffee cups – one of the most ridiculous phenomena in our modern society. Americans throw away something like 50 BILLION coffee cups per year; the plastic lids end up in landfill (at best) and something like 12 billion gallons of water (and 20 million trees) is used to make the paper cups which also have a petrochemical-based lining. Strada also have a $5 personal mug for sale and (if you do end up using a disposable) their disposable lids are compostable. They also have clear waste stream separation and everything about their operation is geared to minimize waste. Strada are not perfect by any means, but deserve credit for trying to address the huge disposable cup waste problem in a clever and responsible way.