Top Coffee in Sturgis, Michigan

Traveling through the sleepy small city of Sturgis, Michigan, you might not expect that it would be a great place to enjoy some terrific coffee. If you are on a road trip that takes you through southwest Michigan, Sturgis is a welcome stop and gourmet coffee, served up with a little style, is never wrong. Sturgis boasts two independent coffee shops as well as a little sandwich shop that brews up a mean fresh-roasted coffee.

Starting directly downtown in Sturgis, Michigan you'll find Great Lakes Chocolate and Coffee Company (http://www.greatlakeschocolate.com/ ) which is also a small coffee roaster and café. Located on the corner of Nottawa Street (highway M-66) and Chicago Road (US-12) at 100 W. Chicago Road, this shop has a commanding view of the main bustle of downtown. This coffee shop is geared toward the young professional and those who prefer a coffee shop experience like you might find in a boutique chain. Some local art as well as a water fountain adorns the walls while a scenic mural of Tuscan splendor separates a stock area from the seating. The cafe offers standard coffee shop drinks, all reasonably priced as well as a selection of bottled sodas, Italian and cream sodas, teas and smoothies blended with whole frozen fruit. Great Lakes Chocolate and Coffee Company also offers a nice selection of gourmet chocolates, pastries, bagels and gift baskets. One drink often commented on from Great Lakes Chocolate customers is the Calico Cat, a super secret mocha that tastes suspiciously like caramel and chocolate. Once a month, Great Lakes Chocolate and Coffee Company features live music as well as a weekly chess club that meets on Monday nights.

Immediately across from Great Lakes, is another sweet little coffee shop, The MetaCafe (http://www.themetacafe.com/). At 103 W. Chicago Road, this café offers a fun, funky atmosphere and a very authentic independent coffee shop appeal sure to appeal to the young and young-at-heart. This café features Jet smoothies, as well as blended frappes, Italian and French sodas, regular sodas, malts, milkshakes, teas, yerba mate, and a selection of fine organic, fair trade coffees at very reasonable prices. The MetaCafe also offers basic candy bars, pastries, and bagels. The MetaCafe hosts a monthly poetry slam, monthly rock concerts as well as bluegrass, folk and Celtic performances. They have a weekly game night and a Bible Study as well as a book exchange shelf for the public. The décor for The Metacafe is fairly minimalist, with browns, deep reds and greens lending a warm, understated appeal. Local art adorns the walls, and local music can frequently be heard over the in-house music. Chalkboard tables (and chalk) give this shop a bohemian, artsy flair. One highly recommended drink at The MetaCafe is the Angst Buster, a mocha milkshake (complete with espresso!) topped with The MetaCafe's signature home-made whipped cream.

A little further down Chicago Road, at 220 West Chicago Road in Sturgis is Edmund Montgomerie's. Edmund's doesn't have a webpage yet, and is currently closed for construction until April. While the real stars of the menu are the fabulous sandwiches on freshly-baked breads, the coffee, from Bear Creek roasters, is a real treat. Edmund Montgomerie's offers a selection of lattes and espressos as well as standard house coffees for a fairly reasonable price. The shop is very reminiscent of a New York deli, with a comfortable dining area and a wide view of Chicago Road from the window.

Sturgis, Michigan, a small mostly industrial town, is rapidly rebuilding it's image as a destination stop for people to and from Amish country as well as those vacationers enjoying the area's natural beauty with it's wealth of lakes, rivers and woods. The MetaCafe, The Great Lakes Chocolate and Coffee Company and Edmund Montgomerie's certainly take this town from ordinary to extraordinary in their small-town appeal and pricing, and big city gourmet coffee and atmosphere.