Caliche Coffee & Roasters — Restaurant in Fredericksburg

We went here twice during our trip to Fredericksburg, and both times we're average. The staff was extremely friendly, but the location is small, and it's crowded and loud. Both times, our order was messed up. I can understand the first time as our order was very large. However, the second time, we only ordered one thing as everyone else wanted to go to a different coffee shop.

During our first visit, I ordered a dirty chai latte. The drink had hardly any chai in it. It was basically milk and espresso with a splash of chai. Unimpressed. Funny enough, we also ordered a regular chai and it was so sweet. Like melted ice cream. My MIL is the type to order triple syrup in her starbucks drinks so she loved it. Someone else in our party ordered a vanilla latte and they gave him a hot chocolate. The cashier very minimally argued that he did order a hot chocolate. (He didn't.) But the batista kindly made him his correct drink. We went the next day and ordered 1 thing. We waited almost 30 minutes. Watched dozens of people go in and out. When asked about our order, they had lost our ticket. The food was ok at best. My husband threw away his entire mocha latte because he said it tasted like pure chocolate syrup. My parents just got regular coffee. They said it was OK. So out of 8 drinks, only satisfied person was my MIL...

Very nice spot, great vibes and well made coffee… However, I bought a bag of the Tenebris Blend, roasted April 1st. Gave it a week or so to de-gas, and it is frankly the absolute most inconsistent bean that I’ve ever put through my espresso machine. I’m not sure if it was just the batch I got or something wrong with the roasting process/quality assurance, but I’m halfway through the bag and I still can NOT pull a drinkable shot with it. Grind settings, dosage adjustments, distribution, VERY consistent tamp pressure - nothing seems to get me close to a good pull time, it’s either WAY too high or insanely short. And either way, it usually burns and leaves a tarry substance on my puck screen and portafilter. It sucks more because it’s delicious if I get lucky and pull an even decent shot.

As someone who’s done barista work, I’ve come to the conclusion that the only major factor in these frustrations must be the roast itself. I really hope I got a particularly bad bag, and that this is not common for their products.

In short, I recommend this spot for the in house coffee and knowledgeable baristas… but I would look elsewhere for your beans, as this roaster has some apparent consistency issues to work through - at least as far as I’ve been...

I’m back after three years and this place is still super cute and the customer service is excellent. The cafe is nice and they have plenty of seating in the back outdoor section, although lots of flies. This goes along with the different small rooms for indoor seating. The customer service is great as the staff is nice, friendly and helpful. This place gets busy, so just know there’s going to be a little wait. As before, the coffee is good, not great and the breakfast is not the reason you should visit. The burrito is meh and I’d probably recommend a sandwich or something else. Coffee 4, food 3. Another positive note is this place is pet and kid friendly. Overall a cute place, but not my top recommendation for breakfast. **Original post in 2021: This is a cute little coffee shop, but the coffee is just okay and the food is not that good. The breakfast burrito was terrible. They should try to add some flavor or salsas to improve the taste. Actually maybe start over with a new burrito. We ordered a couple of coffees, one a vanilla latte and they were decent. The staff was really friendly and helpful and the store...