Local Guides World
Raegan Linster
9 reviews on 1 places
It takes a pretty good experience to say this, but not living in the area I’d make the hour drive just to come back to CoffeeMe. This was the precious local coffee shop find I never expected to find but will now always have in mind.
It doesn’t look like much from the outside, in a standard little strip of businesses, but once you go inside the CoffeeMe is so cozy and friendly, you immediately catch the good vibes. I absolutely love the way it’s decorated inside. The neon sign & picture wall is such a neat idea- they have a polaroid sitting out so you can snap a photo and hang it up on the wall!
I was super happy with the owner, Shawn, right off the bat as well. You just know he’s a people person and he’s a hoot to talk to. It’s just him running the whole business, creating coffee recipes and the like, and I find that incredibly impressive, even more so after trying some of his drinks. He even offered to make my mom a chai latte for free to test how it compares to the best coffee shop from where we live.
And let me say, he makes a mean chai (and even better dirty chai). The perfect blend of spices where it’s very prominent but not over the top. I tried the lavender vanilla latte, and again it just had the right ratios. And especially with floral tastes it can be easy to mess them up or make the entire thing just taste like syrup- no worries on that here. I really want to come back just to try more of Shawn’s creations and definitely will plan to. They do have actual food as well that I’ll certainly be back for.
Probably one of my favorite new coffee shops in Tampa!!
It doesn’t look like much from the outside, in a standard little strip of businesses, but once you go inside the CoffeeMe is so cozy and friendly, you immediately catch the good vibes. I absolutely love the way it’s decorated inside. The neon sign & picture wall is such a neat idea- they have a polaroid sitting out so you can snap a photo and hang it up on the wall!
I was super happy with the owner, Shawn, right off the bat as well. You just know he’s a people person and he’s a hoot to talk to. It’s just him running the whole business, creating coffee recipes and the like, and I find that incredibly impressive, even more so after trying some of his drinks. He even offered to make my mom a chai latte for free to test how it compares to the best coffee shop from where we live.
And let me say, he makes a mean chai (and even better dirty chai). The perfect blend of spices where it’s very prominent but not over the top. I tried the lavender vanilla latte, and again it just had the right ratios. And especially with floral tastes it can be easy to mess them up or make the entire thing just taste like syrup- no worries on that here. I really want to come back just to try more of Shawn’s creations and definitely will plan to. They do have actual food as well that I’ll certainly be back for.
Probably one of my favorite new coffee shops in Tampa!!
Being able to experience glass blowing up close and personal is probably one of the coolest things I’ve watched to date! This is your sign to go if you haven’t or are debating.
We originally went to see the Chihuly Collection across the street and discovered you can attend the free glass blowing demo with the admission ticket. And they have demos every hour on the hour so it was easy and obvious to go.
There were two glass blowers in the demonstration- one doing the actual heavy lifting and the other explaining what was going on. Glass blowing is an entire art of its own and it’s so fascinating. I thought they did a great job educating the crowd on different methods and why you do things certain ways.
You can then shop around and purchase other glass pieces made by the very glass blowers who were in the demo. It’s really such a cool operation and I’m really glad I accidentally stumbled upon it. It’s so different from most experiences you could find.
We originally went to see the Chihuly Collection across the street and discovered you can attend the free glass blowing demo with the admission ticket. And they have demos every hour on the hour so it was easy and obvious to go.
There were two glass blowers in the demonstration- one doing the actual heavy lifting and the other explaining what was going on. Glass blowing is an entire art of its own and it’s so fascinating. I thought they did a great job educating the crowd on different methods and why you do things certain ways.
You can then shop around and purchase other glass pieces made by the very glass blowers who were in the demo. It’s really such a cool operation and I’m really glad I accidentally stumbled upon it. It’s so different from most experiences you could find.
Ding Tea is THE place to go if you desperately need some boba that’s delicious, authentic, and enjoyable! I get these kicks fairly often, so when I one day was in Tampa and wanted boba, I immediately beelined to the nearest Ding Tea, because I knew it would be great based on visiting other locations.
As suspected, Ding Tea did not fail!! They had a blueberry cheesecake milk tea special when I went that I just had to try, and I wish I had had a magical cup that just continued to refill every time it got to the last dregs. How amazing would that be?!
What I love about Ding Tea is how many options they really have. They do also have food, but just with their teas there are long lists for black tea bases, blended drinks and milk teas and more. And you choose your sweetness level which is a wholeee game changer. Can’t recommend hitting up a Ding Tea more! You will be swinging for the fences!
As suspected, Ding Tea did not fail!! They had a blueberry cheesecake milk tea special when I went that I just had to try, and I wish I had had a magical cup that just continued to refill every time it got to the last dregs. How amazing would that be?!
What I love about Ding Tea is how many options they really have. They do also have food, but just with their teas there are long lists for black tea bases, blended drinks and milk teas and more. And you choose your sweetness level which is a wholeee game changer. Can’t recommend hitting up a Ding Tea more! You will be swinging for the fences!
4 words- party in your mouth! I love this fresh take on a Chipotle but almost Mediterranean style/ maybe a tad bit healthier. The line was quick and efficient and I had a great experience overall.
I gotta be honest: I really don’t know half of what was in my bowl or what I was putting in my mouth. What I do know: it tasted FANTASTIC. Like I said, a whole party of flavors, sweet, salty, crunchy, creamy, leafy, all the textures and flavors and it just worked.
Their specialty lemonade/ flavored drink things were also phenomenal and so refreshing, and super good for you. If I lived in the area Cava would be a place I’d hit up pretty frequently!
I gotta be honest: I really don’t know half of what was in my bowl or what I was putting in my mouth. What I do know: it tasted FANTASTIC. Like I said, a whole party of flavors, sweet, salty, crunchy, creamy, leafy, all the textures and flavors and it just worked.
Their specialty lemonade/ flavored drink things were also phenomenal and so refreshing, and super good for you. If I lived in the area Cava would be a place I’d hit up pretty frequently!
Oh, the movie mall. That’s what my friend and I coined this place after visiting. It’s a pretty odd setup to me. You park in a parking garage and enter into what feels like a mall to get to the theater. Only, there’s a Panera, another random restaurant and then the movie theater itself. That’s it- there’s nothing else there. It’s weird, and that’s why we thought “movie mall” is an accurate depiction.
But trust me on this, a movie mall is NOT as pleasant as it may sound, if it does sound nice to you. I know movie theaters can really range in being super gross or actually quite nice. The movie mall leans much more towards gross. Like, pretty icky overall.
So, like dummies my friend and I accidentally walked into the wrong theater at first. But thank goodness it wasn’t the theater we had to sit in, because it smelled AWFUL. So bad, like musty sweat and mold, almost as if something was wet and never got cleaned and it was disgusting. I felt bad for the people in that theater just sitting in the stink.
Then we go to our actual theater where it thankfully smelled much more normal. But we end up moving from our assigned seats because you could literally seat the filth and lack of cleanliness on the chairs and side tables even in the dim lighting. Even pre covid this would’ve been really upsetting, like, do they ever clean their theaters? Who knows.
The last thing, was that during our entire movie there was a really loud dripping/ clicking sound coming from somewhere in the theater. We couldn’t pinpoint where it was coming from but it was really concerning, like was something about to break? Were we okay to be sitting in there for so long?
Thankfully we got out very quickly and did not spend any extra time there. I hate to say that I do NOT recommend this movie mall place. There are plenty of nearby theaters in the Reston area that are wayyy better and won’t make you feel like you need to shower after going.
But trust me on this, a movie mall is NOT as pleasant as it may sound, if it does sound nice to you. I know movie theaters can really range in being super gross or actually quite nice. The movie mall leans much more towards gross. Like, pretty icky overall.
So, like dummies my friend and I accidentally walked into the wrong theater at first. But thank goodness it wasn’t the theater we had to sit in, because it smelled AWFUL. So bad, like musty sweat and mold, almost as if something was wet and never got cleaned and it was disgusting. I felt bad for the people in that theater just sitting in the stink.
Then we go to our actual theater where it thankfully smelled much more normal. But we end up moving from our assigned seats because you could literally seat the filth and lack of cleanliness on the chairs and side tables even in the dim lighting. Even pre covid this would’ve been really upsetting, like, do they ever clean their theaters? Who knows.
The last thing, was that during our entire movie there was a really loud dripping/ clicking sound coming from somewhere in the theater. We couldn’t pinpoint where it was coming from but it was really concerning, like was something about to break? Were we okay to be sitting in there for so long?
Thankfully we got out very quickly and did not spend any extra time there. I hate to say that I do NOT recommend this movie mall place. There are plenty of nearby theaters in the Reston area that are wayyy better and won’t make you feel like you need to shower after going.