Cafe Rhema — Restaurant in Flint

Coffee is inoffensive, baristas are slow and pour-overs are always left unattended and therefore over-extracted. No better than Starbucks. Go to Wildroot.

RESPONSE TO THE OWNER:

Perhaps I was a little harsh, I've revised my rating up one star.

The problem is not with the components of the recipe, the weights or grind size (although grind size accuracy is difficult to measure in a completed brew without tightly controlling total brew time). The problem is with the mechanics of the shop behind the bar, essentially.

I guess I should have prefaced my review with the fact that I go to Rhema fairly regularly, and the results are always the same (if I get a pourover). The barista has too many orders and leaves a half-done pour over basically stewing without completing the entire brew within the industry standard brew time on a given device (for example, kalita 185 30g/500g should clock in at about 3:00-3:30 from coffee touching down in the device).

If you were to let 150g water (post bloom) sit on the coffee for 45 seconds, then complete the brew in 4:15-4:30 vs attending the brew and completing the process properly within the recommended timeframe, and take a TDS (total dissolved solid) reading on the product, you would see (and taste) the fruits over-extraction in the brew that sat. The process is identical to most brewing and extraction processes and nearly all other chemical reactions. Time is of the essence. Furthermore, as I have said and will say again, you cannot measure the rest of your process without insuring that you can properly hit brew times. So this sitting may actually be hiding problems with grind size or water (water is unlikely to be the issue).

Cafe Rhema frequently lets half finished pour-overs sit with the process partially completed overly saturating the grounds, resulting in a mediocre result (if all other elements are held equal, and the rest of the recipe has nothing within it that will harm the brew, which is difficult to measure without tightly controlled brew times).

At some of the less-busy, more focused on coffee, or more heavily staffed shops around, the pourover bars will not seem like an afterthought.

If you aren't getting a pourover, Cafe Rhema is a...

Went there on Sunday 09.10.2023 and noticed a group that was upset. They were asking for a refund. The skinny guy in the red shirt said uhhhh yeah one minute. They said "NO, we waited for an hour and we want a refund now. You never even brought his food out." The worker slowly paid the customer his ten dollars and change. I should have walked out right then. But against my intuition I decided to order a Rhema Club to go and asked the worker to bring it out to my booth fifty foot from their front door at my booth for Bikes on The Bricks. He said no, we are short staffed. I said OK I will come back in and get pick it up. He said come back in fifteen minutes. This was at 12:11p.m. time of sale on my receipt. I ended up having a customer stop by my booth and had a second to go back inside this terrible business at 12:46p.m.. When I walked up the worker said he did not have my sandwich, someone must have taken it. I can just give you refund. I said no, I am hungry. It has been 35 minutes and you originally said it would be ready in 15 minutes. I will take the food please. He said he did not have it. I asked him why it was not waiting there behind the counter. He said because we are short staffed. He said someone took it. I said fine, I will take a refund. As he was fumbling through the computer I was asking him why it hasn't been prepared yet. He said I can't process your refund while you are talking. So I held my hand out and said give me the refund now. Then he threatened to call the police on me because they were unable to complete the order in a timely fashion. What a sham of a business. That little skinny kid in the red shirt and his silly little beard should be fired immediately. The owners should be ashamed of themselves and either work there themselves or close their illegal piss poor false restaurant. 0 stars terrible experience the worker...

EDIT: I appreciate the timely response and will certainly be returning soon. Reviews should be a reflection of experience and I believe the service I received, the food and drinks we had, and the sufficient response by management to correct the issues with the online platform, warrants a full 5 stars. This is a wonderful local cafe with tremendous food and service.

While I initially gave a one star review, it is in no way a reflection of my experience at Cafe Rhema. The cold brew coffee and milk tea were great, sandwiches were great, and the service was truly outstanding. The decor and atmosphere inside was also very neat!

The one star is simply for the fact that the online prices do not reflect the price of the actual items. It is not off by just a few cents, but several dollars. The most unfortunate part is that this puts the employees in a very tough spot as they are having to yield questions about the price discrepancies, potentially losing out on tips. They were very kind in explaining why the prices online are not accurate and even offered to get us free chips in an attempt to make up the difference. It did not seem like the first time they had answered a question in regards to this issue either; they were very apologetic.

I still highly recommend Cafe Rhema, but just keep in mind that you will likely be paying about 10-15% more than the online...