Banana Dang Coffee

This place by far has the most entertaining name and it certainly carries this level of spunkiness throughout their decor and menu. I have to be completely honest, I’ve known of this shop for a few years now, but the name didn’t resonate with me as a coffee place. I am more than glad that I finally gave it a try. Banana Dang will definitely be in my regular rotation of coffee spots.

The shop can be easily seen from the street, all you have to do is look for the bright yellow building with a big banana painted on it. Walking into the shop you can see an open space with ample seating to sit back and enjoy your cup of joe.

Now, of course I came here to try the coffee, but I was also lured by their toast offerings. They have four different toasts, which all sounded amazing, with different bread bases to choose from. I had the cinnamon toast and the simplicity of this menu item was delightful. The bread was nice and thick, perfectly toasted, nicely buttered, and sprinkled with cinnamon and sugar. It was the perfect complement for my latte.

Banana Dang is not a roaster, and unlike some other shops they do not just stick to one vendor for their beans. They usually work with three different places and rotate their options within those vendors. Currently the beans that they are using are from Wild Goose , Cafe Virtuoso, and Manzanita Roasting Company.

Given that I had some toast during my visit, I was only able to order one drink, which was my latte. This place hit it out of the park. As I mentioned in one of my previous posts (link here) one of my biggest pet peeves is a latte with no balance. This was complete harmony, allowing the coffee to shine through while providing you with delicious rich foam. Since Jeff came along for the ride, we also tried their Chai Latte (his go to drink). Their take on this latte is on the sweeter side instead of spicy. It is not overly sweet, but just something I like to point out since shops offer different blends which may be sweet or spacier.

I am planning to go back and try a few of their other menu options as well as bean offerings. They are very close to the beach, which makes it super easy to stop by and grab some coffee and then strolling down to the beach or shops in the area. Be sure to check them out and let me know what your thoughts are.

Purist scale: 3.5 sips out of 5
Decor: 4 sips out of 5
Location: 4 sips out of 5