9 Best Coffee Shops in Amherst

“The Tea Leaf Cafe is my favorite place to get boba.

I should note that this fact in and of itself isn't particularly impressive. I've only been to a few other boba places, and the only other place that I know the name and location of had some issues with the freshness of the foodstuffs they offered. So this place had a very low bar to clear.

That said, it cleared that bar pretty comfortably. The tea itself is good. I have no complaints about it, but also I haven't really encountered a place that does boba wrong, so it doesn't get many points for this. Where this place excels is in its atmosphere. There are black faux leather couches that you can sit on. There are tables along the side where UB students are writing their anthropology essays on their laptops. There's a bookshelf in the far corner with books that are free to take and leaf through, and board games left behind by the city's go club, which meets there every Thursday evening. There's always an interesting playlist/station on in the background, but it's rarely the same. Sometimes it's reggae, sometimes it's jazz, sometimes it's a sort of easy-listening form of pop, sometimes it's indie folk. I can't guarantee that you'll like what you hear, but I think you're always going to be okay with it.

I will levy two minor complaints, neither of which are enough to drop my rating down below 5 stars. The first is that the front door needs to be fixed somehow. The inner door doesn't automatically close, which makes the temperature buffer antechamber lose its functional purpose, and it causes the inside of the place to get a bit chilly on colder nights.

My second complaint is that the night time lighting is a little too dim for my tastes, and I imagine for the tastes of anyone who isn't there with the intention of taking a nap. The walls and ceiling of the place are already painted a dark color, so the choice of lighting makes the place pick up a bit of a cellar vibe more than a cafe vibe, and I sometimes feel my brain working more slowly than usual because of it.

But those two minor issues aside, I'm quite pleased with this place's atmosphere, staff, seating arrangements, and quality and availability of tea. Definitely check it out if you're up for some bubble tea.“

“First time. Take the traffic out of the equation the drinks are tasty and there are 20,000 possible drink combinations. I’ve now been twice. Wait time is about 15-30 mins depending what time you go. The staff does a great job getting cars in and cars out. I do enjoy the cookie butter blondie with caramel drizzle. Staff has been courteous patient pleasant. Thank you.“

“I made a mistake when ordering, somewhat my fault but they have two different menu items with nearly identical names . I went back and explained and the gave me the other item for free. Service was fast, friendly, efficient. It’s obvious these employees care about doing their job properly and trying to keep the customers happy. They all deserve a raise.“

“I would drive a hundred miles for her.“

“A must stop for us in the mornings before a long day of shopping in Buffalo for us Canadian Gals. Their signature latte (caramel craze) is my go to! Their turkey sausage is actually really good and I love that they give that option! Always quick service. Always consistently tasting great!“

“I constantly earn free drinks. I love this place.“

“The atmosphere of the coffee shop was cool but it was in the middle of Whole Foods so it was definitely busy. The guy working there was nice but he was the only one working so it took a while for him to finish our drinks which was ok because we got to purchase some pastries and bagels (which was better than average). The drinks we got were good, nothing special. I got the brown butter cookie latte tasted almost like a normal latte just a little sweeter. Overall a pretty good place to have coffee!“

“Simply Awesome ⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️☕️Taste like some more“

“I go here instead of the two closer locations. It's worth the drive. That is to say, it is much better than either of the Tim Horton's locations on UB's North campus. I must preface this. To be better than those is not hard. The bar is soooo low and limited and the stand of the bar is made of old wet newspaper held up only with the stickiness of an Elmer's GlueStick, to not be better than those locations would be akin to forgetting how to breathe, or pushing on every door labeled "Pull", eating a banana without peeling it, eating the little pellet bags you find in the boxes of new shoes, etc. They also have the Chipotle sauce which is really the only reason I go there. The farmers wrap slaps, they take the rewards too which the campus ones don't because... I don't know. Probably because students use their UB cards and parents essentially pay for the coffee and rewarding that kind of behavior is apparently not Campus-Tim's way.“