Lakeside Coffee Roaster — Restaurant in Town of Champlain

Some of the tastiest coffee my friend and I have ever had. We came to Rouses Point from Northwestern Vermont along Route 2, and were astounded by the lack of coffee seemingly anywhere in the islands of Lake Champlain. During our search for an oasis in this coffee desert, we pulled up to a food truck advertising breakfast and lunch food and asked for coffee — the owner replied, “...Coffee? We have no coffee here.” We had grown groggy by this point, and cannot reliably say whether she also said, “We haven’t had that spirit here since 1969.” Disappointed but not yet broken, we asked if she knew where we could find any coffee.. “Oh, yeesh..I don’t know about that...Not much coffee around these parts.” We said thank you and returned to the car. But moments before we pulled away, we heard a voice through the window shout “Wait!” And it was, of course, our friend from the truck. “My friend bought a church, ‘bout ten miles back, and turned it into a shop. She might have espresso. But I don’t know when she’s open.” We weren’t getting our hopes up enough to turn back to from where we had come. So we beat on, towards the prospect of a brew beyond the state line. Chapter Two - Found in New York: Rouses Point is a small town in the Northeast corner of the Empire State where desperate, bleary, un-caffeinated travelers find relief at last. Lakeside Coffee appeared to us through a golden break in the dark clouds, and we dared to smile as we parked across the street. We got out and walked towards the door, where the OPEN sign hung like a wink from an angel at the gates, or a warm blanket upon a shivering shoulder — Only to see a masked man walk up to the sign from within the store and flip it to CLOSED, because the angel was a demon in disguise, the gates led straight to Hell, and that blanket was only warm on account of its being covered in rancid microwaved tuna and a rusty bucket’s worth of steaming raccoon piss. We just about collapsed onto the tar beneath our aching feet. Dejected, broken men. Our wanderings had cost us ten crucial minutes. Unbeknownst to us, it was 2:09.

And then the man opened the door. “What are you guys looking for?” He asked.

“COFFEE!!”

“...Hey, we’ve got that.”

The angel, the gates, the warmth without all the gross stuff!

Lakeside, run by Sonya and her husband, is a beautiful shop with a heart. They source the best coffees they know of from all over the world, including a Guatemalan medium roast with unbelievably scrumptious notes of cherry, and they know how to make the day of two tired, needy travelers.

We wish them...

I’ve tried to come here multiple times, and never once have I had a good experience. I’ve been a barista for 7 years so I know what I latte should taste like, it’s not very hard to mess up. But somehow each time it just gets worse and worse. The one I just tried from them tasted like syrup and cheep almond milk. The women they have working the counter are always rude and unhelpful. I came in originally to buy a bag of coffee for someone as a gift which I will now not be giving and the woman at the counter rolled her eyes multiple times when I was trying to decide on what roast. She offered no suggestions or help with anything & made me feel incredibly uncomfortable. There was no one else in line, & it wasn’t busy at the time, but as soon as i got there she made me feel like i was an inconvenience for her. Also while waiting for my coffee I noticed the suffering beta fish they seem to always have on display at the counter. Animal abuse isn’t great for business, it’s quite disgusting to see. I will not be returning here. The vibe is very middle age republican mom, & their “baristas” should not be serving coffee or working in customer service in general. I’m sure they believe they’re doing great because of the easy to please people in the north country and loyal elderly regulars, but their service is...

I love having this coffee shop as a local option. Their iced latte options and chai are fantastic, and the food (when available) has always been delicious thanks to the partnership with Delicious Beauty Café.

That said, the management side feels a little inconsistent. Both the café and kitchen open at 7:30am, which makes it tough for work commutes. Often only one barista is on in the mornings, so there can be a wait right at opening. Food is hit or miss depending on whether the kitchen staff shows up on time (or at all), and it doesn’t seem like the baristas are kept in the loop. This has happened on several occasions, today being one. More robust online ordering for food would also be a great improvement.

Despite these challenges, the baristas are always warm and kind — I’ll never forget my first visit as a new mom after dropping my daughter off for school for the first time. The baristas were so kind and made me feel welcome. The products are excellent, and I truly hope the new owners are working on smoothing out the operations, because this spot has so...