Ledger Coffee Roasters — Restaurant in Madison

This past Saturday, I placed a pick-up order for a dozen Level 5 donuts in Boston cream, cherry almond, chai, blueberry lemon, and chocolate. When we arrived at Ledger to get some EXCELLENT coffee (I loved the light roast) and sit with our donuts, they also had key lime and churro available for individual sale, so we had to grab a couple each of those, too. Can I gush about these here?? I could not take enough pictures of these gorgeous donuts between stuffing my face with bites of them, especially luxuriating in the rich amounts of pastry cream in the Boston. Insane! All of Caitlin's flavors are fresh and bright, true to their word and never artificial tasting. They are never too subtle or too prominent. The middles are soft and the outsides are just a little bit crispy and I am so glad she is in my town making donuts! All her donuts are vegan, and you can special order gluten-free donuts for pick-up as well... I have had them at festivals she's participated in and they are excellent. You can order through her website, or just get to Ledger before they run out. I recommend a dozen though, because these donuts are binge-worthy. Make some time to get coffee at the shop, because it is top notch artisan coffee and definitely a worthy pairing. Oat milk, almond and others all available. Service is very accommodating...

I absolutely love the coffee beans from Ledger, and I'd highly recommend buying a bag if you brew at home. I use them for espresso but they'd probably give you a great drip coffee or pour over as well! Even their decaf (Rally Cry) is really good. Note that single origin bags are quite expensive here, and they're 10oz bags, but I thought it was well worth it.

As a coffee shop Ledger isn't that special - they can take a while since they don't have many baristas, and they don't have much seating. But they're a great local roaster and you should check them out for that reason alone.

If you go early you can get Level 5 donuts which I do...

The coffee is as good as other local shops, I like that it's roasted on site. The service is the reason I am giving three stars; I've been in three times now and each time it seems like there is one person who's job is to act disinterested and work the register, while the other gets backed up on orders making drinks. I am unsure what the cardamom craze is because I've ordered it twice and the drinks taste nothing of cardamom. I realize I may be salty at this point and that may be some negative feed back and poor service. So I will continue to try, however the vegan place has good coffee too and they don't seem annoyed...