Cafe Azul in Santa Rosa, California: A Review

Cafe Azul is an excellent place to take cover from the seemingly never-ending rain in Santa Rosa, California. It's a medium-sized cafe that is clean and cozy, has pretty good seating and menu, and often has the bonus of live music on hand as well.

It's primarily a place for coffee, but there's a decent selection of light meals and snacks as well. They've got basic deli sandwiches, soup, salads, breakfast burritos, bagels, pastry and various sweets. Prices aren't what I would call "high" for the area, but it's not exactly "budget" either. It's in the same ballpark as Starbucks and Peets, but this place offers a few advantages. One is simply the more comfortable and spacious (and less generic) environment, not to mention the live music when it's available. They serve Equator coffee, a company that meets all the Bay Area requirements of sustainable and small batch and Fair Trade and etc., but more importantly makes pretty great coffee. If you like a coffee on the lighter side check out the Beachcomber when they have it, perfect for warming up with after getting unexpectedly soaked by the rain. If you like a darker and heavier coffee the Alligator and Zumatra are really good. And I love the nice wide mugs they serve it to you in when you have it in house. Anyway, a bagel with cream cheese or butter and a basic coffee is still well below five bucks total. Oh, and they do have free WiFi, though power outlets are few and usually seem to be camped. And they regularly showcase and rotate stuff from local artists on the wall, like me you probably don't have a spare $1,000 to drop on an impulse painting purchase, but there's some nice work to look at while you unwind.

Anyway - great coffee, pretty good food, reasonable prices, great place to sit, and if you want to check out what the upcoming live music performances for the week are, they are on Twitter at CafeAzulSR. Don't settle for Starbucks, wander a little bit down 4th Street and check this place out.