Cervantes Coffee Roasters — Restaurant in Springfield

Like a diamond in a haystack, Cervantes Coffee is truly a hidden gem in an unexpected location.

Located in the middle of an industrial park and neighbors with a mechanic shop, I was skeptical about this place from the get-go. But, as soon as I stepped through the doors, I knew I was going to be pleased with my decision.

Immediately I was hit with the pleasing, intoxicating aroma of fresh coffee. This isn't too surprising, as I later found out, because they actually roast their own beans in house. If you're into coffee at all, you know that's a big deal in terms of freshness and quality. A young lady, who wasn't at the counter, but in the back working a Chemex and chatting with a customer informed me that she'd be around in just a second.

I wandered around the front of the store for a couple minutes, just taking everything in. The design of the shop is quant, cozy (albeit maybe a bit stuffy) and certainly unconventional even for a coffee shop. Nicknacks and pictures cover the walls, there's old carpet on the floors, open closets and a small bakery right in the entry way. In any other place I probably would have felt uncomfortable, but here it just felt welcoming. Almost as if I had stepped into a friend's apartment for a cup of coffee.

After a couple of minutes, the barista came around and asked me for my order. Whenever I go to a coffee shop, my preference is always to ask the staff what they enjoy. I did exactly that and she recommended Chemex pour over with a light blend that she claimed was strong, but not offensive. Intrigued, I ordered and paid about $4 all said and done.

I then took a seat in the back area. Again, everything was unconventional. None of the chairs matched, we were walking around on a garage floor surrounded by wooden barrels and palates. But, once again, I felt comfortable. I grabbed a seat and waited about 10 minutes for my coffee.

When it came, I was mightily impressed by the quality. Not only was the coffee wonderful, as the barista recommended, but the pour over was done exceptionally well. The flavor was smooth, well-balanced, not oily and a great temperature. This just goes to show that my cup wasn't made in haste, but that she took the time to really make it right.

All in all, I really like this place. It's a little out of the way, but definitely worth the trip if you're in the area. It's a great place to work, meet, read or just drink a really good cup of coffee.

The only thing I don't like is the parking. Like I mentioned before, this place is in the middle of an industrial complex and, apparently, industrial people protect their parking spots like gold. If the designated spots outside the shop are taken, don't park around the building. There's street parking a little further...

UPDATE: I am starting to get great shots out of the bean now. It seems like the problem was the opposite, the bean was too fresh. Likely that's why it was pulling really inconsistent shots in the beginning as there was too much gas. After over 10 days, things are starting to look great. I have updated the review. But, I would still encourage the company to put roast date on their bag so that people can rest their coffee accordingly.

Long story short, roaster was right about the freshness of their beans, I was wrong.

Old review:

Really really unhappy. I bought a bag of 'freshly roasted' coffee from their shelf, with no roast date on it. I asked the sells person twice how fresh are these beans. They assured me they always roast beans in their shop and its at most 4 days old. I bought the bag home and immediately could tell the bag is not fresh as the shot was too fast even with really fine grind settings. I know what I am talking about because, I have bought hundreds of freshly roasted coffee online from different third wave roasters and I can immediately tell the freshness of the beans from the shots I pull from them. I sent a refund request to their email which nobody bothered to reply.

I took the bag to their shop and a salesperson told me they don't refund and they roast everyday. They brought the owner and the owner was doubling down on their claim that they always roast freshly. I appreciate her patience as she took time and pulled shots from the bean, and gave me two espresso shots to drink. But, even though she saw the shot was pulling fast, she blamed it on the grinder. I came back and thought maybe I was really on the wrong. But, after trying multiple finer grind settings, it's absolutely clear the bag was stale.

I am not saying they don't roast fresh, because they do it for sure. But, that particular bag was old. Maybe they forgot to take that one off the shelf, who knows. A company with good customer service would have refunded the moment they saw the shot was indeed pulling fast even in their machine, but they didn't do that, instead doubled down on their claim.

Giving four stars for the food because the coffee I had in their shop was tasty. But, I will definitely not return to their shop. This is a lesson to myself to never buy a bag of beans with no roast date on it. That was the first red flag and I should have listened to...

In response to what the owner wrote: The owner says we were being disrespectful to their customers and rules, but we never interacted or disrespected any customers, so why even mention that. We were there to enjoy coffee and to take photos of the nice atmosphere to leave a nice review, but instead, they left us with a sour taste. I just uploaded the 4 photos I took with the camera shown, which are out in the open for anyone to take a photo. Clearly, these are not "employees only" section as the owner states. There were no signs anywhere that say "no photography" or "only one photo allowed". These are not "employees only" section. We didn't go sneaking into the back room to take photos. We only took a couple photos and after the elderly lady told us we could only take one photo for Instagram, we immediately stopped. Goes to show how disrespectful they are to their customers (Us) and the person /owner who replied is either a liar or got wrong info from their employee (elder lady). And for them to show so much defense in their response and being condescending and to not care that we don't ever come back, it goes to show how unprofessional this business operates. Starting to think that the person singled us out because we are Asian ...

Was very excited to visit this place with a new / used pocket camera that I bought and saw they had over 700 photos on Google and I wanted to contribute to show how beautiful the interior is. My friend came with me as well as we both both the same vintage camera. As a top 10% coffee reviewer on Google, I was disappointed when one of the workers came up to me and told me I was only allowed to take 1 photo for Instagram and can’t take photos in “detail”. I don’t even use Instagram. It was not a friendly nor a welcoming place. Felt very weird after she said that and wanted to leave as soon as possible, but ordered to sit in and gave them a nice tip too. I’ve been to almost all of the coffee places in the DMV area, Costa Rica, and Panama and have never had any issues taking multiple photos for personal use. Not coming here again, even though I live 8...