I stopped into Sips Cafe in York with my sister while we were on our way to a funeral, and I was…read morehonestly pleasantly surprised by how cute this place is! The whole atmosphere is very feminine, with lots of pink, plants, natural light, and just a really fresh, lively feel. It seems like a great spot to work for a few hours, catch up with a friend, or have a little coffee date.
Maybe I'm a bit biased because my whole family is from York, although I don't live there. Growing up and visiting York, I always remember parts of the area feeling a little older and run down, so walking into Sips and seeing such a bright, modern, plant-filled space was a really nice surprise.
I ordered a strawberry vanilla matcha with lavender cold foam. One thing I really liked is that they have a bunch of different flavors and can apparently turn any of them into a cold foam, which gives you a lot of options for customizing your drink.
One thing to note for matcha people: this isn't the type of place where you see them whisking ceremonial matcha to order. I watched the matcha for my drink being poured from a container, so it was clearly prepared ahead of time. Not necessarily a dealbreaker, especially for a higher-volume café, but worth mentioning if the preparation of your matcha matters to you.
The biggest issue was the wait. It took about 15 minutes from the time we finished ordering and paid until we had both of our drinks. They seemed to be making drinks one at a time, so my sister received her coffee first and my matcha came another three or four minutes later. I got the impression they may simply be understaffed. On the positive side, my matcha was around $7, which felt pretty inexpensive compared to what I'm used to paying.
The other downside was the temperature inside. It was HOT. The AC was definitely running because I could feel cold air when I stood directly over a vent, but as soon as I moved away from it, I was sweating and pretty uncomfortable. I couldn't imagine sitting there drinking a hot coffee for very long.
That said, everyone we interacted with was very pleasant, and the café itself was clean, tidy, and genuinely beautiful. I also got the impression that Sips is relatively new, so some of these things may just be growing pains while they work out the kinks.
Overall, I'm rooting for them! The space has so much potential and brings something really cute and refreshing to York. Get the temperature under control and improve the turnaround time on drinks, and I think Sips could be a really great little café.
