Order: Small Latte w/ extra shot
Price: $5.25
Positives: They have coffee, as in they were the only coffee shop that we could find on the island.
Negatives: The coffee was unbelievably weak, even with the extra shot of espresso.
I'd rather not drink coffee.
tldr: We had finally found a cafe on St. Croix and ultimately came to the conclusion that we would rather find, grind, and brew our own coffee than drink the super watered down coffee at Grounded Cafe.
Thoughts: Before we ever landed in St. Croix I had done my research and come to the conclusion that there is basically no coffee on the island. Legitimately the only places that came up in my search were two coffee shops that looked very unimpressive and breakfast places that happen to have coffee. Given that we are exceptionally picky coffee drinkers we decided to pack our own coffee and pour over set for our vacation. But we still wanted to give the local coffee a shot, so after a reasonable amount of looking around we finally settled on Grounded Cafe. To be honest, nothing about it looked super impressive so my hopes weren't very high.
We walked in and the vibe screamed, we make coffee, but we don't really "do" coffee. I don't know how to explain this to non coffee "enthusiasts" but a cafe has a certain feeling when they treat their coffee like an art and pursue it with unwavering discipline. This one definitely didn't do that. They didn't offer pour overs, there wasn't a selection of beans of the day, and there was no-one else inside. It really did feel like walking into a super small café that serves sandwiches and oh, coffee.
We ordered a small latte to go, with an extra shot of espresso, just so that we could try it. On par with expectations it was just incredibly weak. It tasted more like a cup of hot milk with a little bit of espresso in it, then any real attempt at a late. We ended up tossing it in the trash a couple blocks later just because I didn't want to drink that much milk and it really didn't taste like coffee.
I do know some of people that would be ok with this kind of coffee, but I don't know many that would truly enjoy it. If you're not as picky as us maybe Grounded Café will work for you, but don't get your hopes up. For my wife and I it isn't even close to what we want in a coffee shop and I would rather not drink coffee and drink that. Ultimately we did decide that if we ever move to Saint Croix opening our own coffee shop would be a high priority. read more