Spring Break Cafe Hopping pt 1: intro and Pepita Coffee

dragging myself out of my room every morning to avoid the brainrot, but also developing a caffeine addiction and wasting my mother's money (sorry mom)

I make no claims about being a food expert and knowing anything about coffee (i've never drank coffee seriously before). These are obviously my opinions, and there are people who are way more qualified to give their opinion on food than I am.

As I was walking to my last (and only) class on Friday, not counting the class that I always skip, I bumped into and briefly chatted with a classmate of mine. The usual small talk ensued, and he told me that he had a list of places he wanted to go to in Boston during spring break. During class, I was very distracted (as I always am), and I also had a growling stomach. I was originally going to go to some cafe nearby, but I thought of this classmate's spring break plans and had the splendid idea of going cafe hopping.

I was trying to go to Cicada, but it was again very busy and so I scoured (on Reddit) for good places in the vicinity. I found Pepita not too far away and made my way over. It's located in a quaint, more quiet part of Cambridge. The classic suburban Boston feel. It's located inside a taproom and they seem to have live events at night, if you're interested in that I suppose. There are some other food places nearby.

Pepita Coffee

3.5/5 - (I want to be a bit harsher when it comes to rating these places so it's easier to differentiate. It's not bad, to be clear).
Location: 284 Broadway, Cambridge, MA 02139
Ordered: latte (4.50), mushroom and caramelized onion sandwich (12)
Time spent: 2 hours - I was starting to get restless, I had to go bathroom, and it was starting to get hella cold

Vibes: Looks like the regular hole-in-the-wall cafe with dark wood furniture, metal furniture that makes too much sound when you have to stand up (it's not that bad here, I've been in worse chairs), exposed ventilation above, etc. The music is a little on the loud side for my taste, but it does drown out the specifics of people's conversations, so I suppose that's good. I arrived at about 12:30, and there is plenty of people around, though I did manage to procure a place to sit. The barista was very sweet. They had free wifi but I was too lazy to locate the wifi password so I didn't. After being here for a hot (or perhaps I should say cold) while, I found it to be a little chilly. My fingies are high key cold after typing this review.

I saw good reviews online about their breakfast burrito, but I don't like wraps so I got a sandwich instead because oml I love gluten and bread.

Latte: It came in a cute mug and was at a nice, drinkable temperature, though I would prefer it to be a little hotter since I drink my drinks slowly and at the end it was getting cold. Compared to the lattes that I've had before, it's relatively bland and not as aromatic as I would have liked, and I suspect that comes from the smaller dose of espresso (I know very little about how coffee drinks are made). There's definitely a more chocolatey, bitter aftertaste that does not last too long. I put in a packet of sugar (which is what I always do) and it was the perfect amount of slightly sweet flavor. I kind of like the more subtle taste compared to the sometimes overly rich taste. I could see myself drinking this on a regular basis. Oh, and the usual latte art.

Sandwich: I actually very much dislike mushrooms but I got it anyways because I really like onion. It's a vegetarian sandwich with some kind of cheese (I think asiago?), spinach, a lot of some kind of weird-looking mushroom, and kind of little onion on sourdough bread with this really yummy honey and something acidic sauce that I absolutely love because I'm a sucker for sweet and sour. I think it was honey mustard with more mayo than mustard. I expected it to be a warm sandwich and was unpleasantly surprised to find that it was cold, even though the bread was toasted and the mushrooms and onions were obviously cooked.

Something about it being cold made the flavors work differently than I expected. Every flavor is much more subtle, with the main flavor being the honey mustard. The mushroom taste was barely noticeable and the cold numbed my tongue enough for me to not to fully process the lowkey gross texture of mushroom. It was cooked well enough that I could chew right through and it melted in my mouth but without much flavor, so I was barely processing that I was eating mushroom. Thus, despite the abundance of mushroom, the sandwich was unexpectedly enjoyable for my fungus-hating self. I think the mushroom acted like what the meat of a sandwich would be, and I think I prefer this over actual meat. It didn't have the chewiness of meat that makes luncheon meat lowkey not that great, and it definitely filled me up. I couldn't really pinpoint the taste of onion or the cheese because the taste was mainly the sauce, but I believe they were helpful for the flavor profile. I think the aroma of onion bled into the tang of the honey mustard and the cheese was mild but still contributed to the aroma, presumably to add depth. (I'm not trying to be pretentious I swear, I nibbled at the cheese a little to taste it fully, so the cheese did have flavor).

My main gripe with the sandwich was how much fluid there was. I would take a bite and my hand would be drenched in this brown mushroom juice. It made eating while working a headache, because I would have to wipe my hand with the napkin before returning to my laptop, and I don't even think my hands are clean so I might be lowkey ruining my laptop keyboard but it's okay. I resorted to eating a large portion of the sandwich before working for a chunk of time and switching back and forth like that. The juices soaked into the bread, and I kind of enjoyed the soaked bread on the inside against the crispy toasted outside. I think I prefer a too-wet sandwich over a too-dry sandwich (i gotta get my mind out of the gutter). Like I said, the mushroom was bland enough that it didn't put too much flavor into the bread, which was fine. Still too messy though.

Value: I think 12$ for a vegetarian sandwich is kind of a lot, but they were using some kind of slightly more boujee mushroom (not the common ones that you see) and it's not a chain coffeeshop so I suppose it's fine. It was very filling, though, and I think this suffices as my one main meal of the day. The latte was pretty standard price. The rest of the food options were pretty pricey too.

Rating: It's not the most impressive thing that I've had, so I'm giving it a 3.5/5. The latte was enjoyable but not memorable. I am still kind of salty about the sandwich not being hot but it's okay. The main flavor was honey mustard, which is not a standard flavor, so it wasn't really memorable either. Still, I did not hate the sandwich despite hating mushrooms, but I was kind of expecting to be wowed by some really good, deep mushroom and onion flavor. Also the prices were kind of a lot.