Camellia Coffee Roasters — Restaurant in Sacramento

Full disclosure: I'm friends with one of the founders but my review is still bias-free.

Cortado Review

The Pour: Very good, tasty. They had Ethiopian beans for their espresso drinks and they use the Strauss barista blend (yay!)

Service: Baristas were very friendly and happy to talk about their craft. One of Sacramento's premier baristas (Alfonso P) works here now. Do yourself a favor and come by when he's on bar.

Ambiance: Clean and modern, a mix of modern and hipster. It's located in the WAL building on R Street, so kind of in the middle of Hipster Central. Next to a barber shop. You know what I'm talking about.

Conclusion: A great new entry in Sacramento's growing roster of craft coffee shops. I've only been a couple of times, but it will no doubt be receiving it's 5th star soon, along with my other two favorite shops (Insight @ 8th St and Identity Coffee). Check it out for sure.

About Me / Review Criteria: -I only check out / review "Third Wave"/artisanal/craft coffee shops -Nobody gets more than 4 stars until I've gone several times -Reviews can't be based on just a select group of baristas, they all have to be equally skilled, or at least must all have a minimum level of skill -My star ratings are solely based on the drink, never on food, ambiance, or if the barista is emo or snobby (because that would bring down more than 50% of the shops), although I do mention those in the review -I don't claim to be a trained coffee connoisseur -My reviews are generally based on gibraltar/cortados (or cappuccinos), not espresso or...

My wife wanted to go to a coffee shop and she saw this one and decided we give it a shot. Parking was super easy on a Sunday which was surprising but not as surprising as the line that was there, it was out the door. I almost said let's not.. lol but I'm glad we didn't! We brought our 2 kids with us and it was fairly easy with them since the line moved relatively quick. We came for the horchata cold brew and man.. that thing was soooo good!! So good my wife almost went back in line (mind you the line was just as long as when we got there) to get another one!! Instead I just gave her the rest of mine, I was still sort of cracked out from the preworkout prior so I figure less caffeine the better. But seriously, get the horchata cold brew! We'd go back just for that, obviously. Food wise I got the smoked salmon with cream cheese, that's normally on a bagel but they were out so they put it on the brioche bun and i think it was amazing.. I devoured that thing soooo quickly lmao. I thought it was going to be a weird combination but it was literally amazing plus the texture of the bun helped add a nice crisp too it that wasn't too overpowering so if anything that might be their new signature instead of it coming with bagel. My wife got the omelet sandwich and she loved it, she added bacon and it's the first restaurant that doesn't cheap out on...

I’ve had drinks here twice. Last winter I got a seasonal hot latte which was pretty good. Since then I’ve heard a lot about their breakfast sandwiches and decided to give it a try. I’ve also heard about their horchata cold brew so I gave that a shot as well. It was just milky and not really great in flavor, I was over it after the first sip.

For the breakfast menus - I don’t understand why it’s difficult to have non-pork options. At first, since I’m from NYC, I thought maybe it was just uncommon to have turkey bacon or turkey sausage / or really any non pork options for meat. After a year out in California, I completely disagree. It just feels like it’s not inclusive to not have a single meat option that’s not pork. This most recent visit, the meat options were pork bacon, pork sausage, OR a season shredded pork. Aside from religious reasons, there are a lot of reasons people do not eat pork…

Anyways, I did give their vegetarian sandwich a try. It was pretty mediocre and I felt like it lacked in salt/flavor. It lacked so much that the only flavor that came through was the flavor of plain avocado lol

The place is actually really cute and it has a great atmosphere otherwise. They have a cute claw machine as well. I think the place has room for...