Catalpa Coffee — Restaurant in Northampton

I was sitting at a small table with Gwyn, both of our laptops out taking up all the space, it was kind of a tight fit, but we made it work. It was busy the entire time we were there. The Mocha I got was smooth, not too sweet, but I enjoyed it. At one point a door behind Gwyn suddenly opened out of nowhere, and it gave me the heeby jeebies. Like some sort of ghost hunting thing, behind the door lead to the basement, and I was so pumped to just walk down there, but then Gwyn shook her head and said no. I also got a grilled cheese sandwich, it was small, just cheese between two pieces of crusty bread. Yeah, the bread was really good. The mini pickles tasted like vinegar though. The bathroom is also kind of scary. Like the sitting room slowly gets smaller and smaller towards the back, until you get to the bathroom door, and in the bathroom the toilet takes up the whole back wall, like a willy wonka chocolate factory. Oh, also the light for the bathroom is outside the bathroom, so if you ever want to terrify your friend, just flick the switch while they're doing their thing. Like I am sure you can get some great stories out of this place. But I would not recommend this place for studying for long periods of time because the music that was playing all sounded the same, and personally, it was driving me mad. It kind of reminded me of that game where you have monsters on an island that sing, and I'm just not a fan of...

Catalpa is a genus of flowering trees in the family Bignoniaceae, native to North America, the Caribbean, and East Asia. Here’s a breakdown:

Botanical Features: • Leaves: Large, heart-shaped, and arranged in whorls or opposite pairs. • Flowers: Showy, white or purple, trumpet-shaped, often with yellow and purple markings. • Pods: Long, slender seed pods that resemble beans (sometimes called “cigar trees”). • Height: Typically 40–70 feet tall.

Fun fact: Catalpa trees can “snow” in summer. When they’re in full bloom, their large, white, orchid-like flowers often fall all at once after a rain or strong wind, covering the ground like snow—just without the cold. It’s weirdly magical and messy at the same time.

Yes, Catalpa trees do grow near Vermont and Massachusetts, though they’re not native to New England. • Northern Catalpa (Catalpa speciosa) is native to the Midwest and parts of the South but has been widely planted in the Northeast as an ornamental or shade tree. • Southern Catalpa (Catalpa bignonioides) is more southern in origin but also shows up in New England landscapes.

In Massachusetts, you’ll definitely find them in parks, old estates, city plantings, and sometimes near older homes. In Vermont, they’re rarer because of the colder climate, but some individual specimens do survive in warmer microclimates...

Long short: okay coffee, meh service, go somewhere else for breakfast. Went here to try out a new shop and ordered a soy latte and an egg and cheese biscuit. The barista used cows milk the first time, but remade it- no biggie. The latte was okay overall. When I got the biscuit (the sandwiches are premade and sit in a warming cabinet), the egg and cheese were very cold and I asked for it to be warmed up. After about fifteen minutes of just putting it back in the warming drawer, they called my name and put it back on the counter. When I went to pick it up, the plate was scalding hot and burned my hand. After swapping to a cooler dish the biscuit was, amazingly compared to the plate, still cold. At this point I decided that this place was not for me, asked for a refund (which they were kind enough to oblige) and went down the street to Familiars instead which I would far recommend over this place for both breakfast and coffee. Overall the service was slow and the number of slip ups made the experience pretty lackluster. They might benefit from having more than two people on staff during the busy morning since it seems like they were too stretched to pay...