Bloomington has a fair number of coffee shops, the locations of which are very important to know if you are attending a conference and need caffeine. Many of these coffee shops also sell baked goods, which are also extremely important. Here is what will be around the conference area. This list is absolutely not exhaustive. This is a college town and we are just silly with coffee shops. Everything on this list should be close enough to walk to pretty quickly for when you just need coffee right this minute.
Soma Coffeehouse & Juice Bar There are three Somas in town, but the ones you’ll want to concentrate on are the Soma on Kirkwood (near the Graduate Hotel, about half a mile from the Indiana Memorial Union) and the Soma on 3rd St (near the Lilly Library). Soma offers a wide selection of coffees and teas as well as juice and smoothies. Also available are grab-and-go foods like muffins, cookies, scones, bagels, salads, etc. The Soma on Kirkwood is more or less the flagship location, and has a lot of kitschy décor, an outdoor patio area, a pretty big back room to study or otherwise pass the time in, and is attached to local record shop TD’s CDs & LPs. This might be a contentious opinion, but Soma on Kirkwood is my favorite coffee shop in town.
Parlor Doughnuts This is actually a chain, which I wanted to avoid on these lists, but Parlor’s doughnuts are just so incredibly good (and they also sell coffee which makes them eligible for this list). Parlor is located directly above Soma and also has a fair amount of outdoor seating available.
Inkwell Inkwell is a bakery and a café and a good spot to grab breakfast or lunch. There are two Inkwell locations: one on N College Ave (very close to The Graduate) and one on S Woodlawn Ave (less than half a mile from the Indiana Memorial Union). The Woodlawn location also has plenty of outdoor seating.
Poindexter Poindexter is so close to the Graduate that it is literally inside the hotel (but you don’t need to be a hotel guest to go there). Coffee, breakfast, lunch, and grab-and-go snacks are available all day and, for many of you, will be a convenient stop on the way back to your room.
Cup & Kettle Cup & Kettle does serve coffee and espresso drinks, but their main focus is tea. So many kinds of tea! And if you like what you try, you can grab a bag of looseleaf tea to bring home with you. They also sell light pastries (but are not as pastry-forward as some other shops on this list).
Starbucks Including a link to the Starbucks website almost seems insulting. You know what it is. It’s Starbucks, and there’s one inside the Indiana Memorial Union which will be perfect to run to between conference panels.
Sugar & Spice Also located in the IMU. Sugar & Spice does coffee and it’s pretty much fine. However, their dessert selection is wide, including an ice cream counter serving Chocolate Moose ice cream! Another really convenient spot to get caffeinated between talks.
Written by Rebecca Baumann, Erika Dowell, Isabel Planton, Ursula Romero, Lilly Library