The door opens and smells of freshly brewed coffee, and the charm of books fills the air. There are many establishments to buy drinks in Fort Thomas but the Hidden Chapter café is able to combine the comfort of a quiet place to read, along with the enjoyment of a nice coffee or fun drink. With many different drinks on the menu there can be a lot of options to choose from. 

The Hidden Chapter is a bookstore and café right down the street from Highlands, it’s a family owned business that creates a warm vibe for book lovers but is open to all, including pets. For their main café menu we taste tested at least one drink from all four sections of that menu which consist of coffee, non coffee, teas and specialty drinks, giving feedback on each of them, rating them 1 to 10. 

The Hidden Chapter is a great establishment for the customers but also for the people that work there. Barista Natalie Hoover (11) works at The Hidden Chapter, she says that the work environment and atmosphere is great.

“My coworkers are amazing, the owner is amazing like we are a little family in there. I mean honestly I don’t think there’s a con for working there, I love it so much,” Hoover (11) said.

Combining the comfort of warm coffee and the enjoyment of a nice book makes this place special.

“A lot of people come to the cafe side first, and then they’ll go shop for books while they either A wait for their drink or just browse, and then they’ll come back over, and sit down with a book, or maybe they’ll work, you know, I think it’s a good mix,” Hidden Chapter Barista Cheyenne Masco said.

On March 24, we were excited to have the opportunity to taste test and review five drinks:

Strawberry Lemonade – 8/10

The Hidden Chapter has a wide variety of drinks for all to enjoy and for those who don’t enjoy the taste of coffee they have a non coffee portion of their menu. We had the opportunity to try their strawberry lemonade. This  lemonade is cold, refreshing and tasteful. Tasting like a freshly picked strawberry combined with the soft bitterness of the lemon. With most strawberry flavored products you buy, tasting processed and chemically enhanced, this drink tastes as if the fruits were just picked from the garden and squeezed into your drink. As much as we did enjoy this lemonade it definitely could have a stronger strawberry taste just to make it more refreshing. but If you don’t enjoy the taste of coffee or looking for a drink to cool you down on a hot day I highly recommend this option. 

Cold Vanilla Latte – 10/10

Since there is a wide variety of different lattes to order at The Hidden Chapter we chose a traditional iced vanilla latte. Even as a very common drink it was still just as good as the others. It was sweet, refreshing and had the perfect amount of milk to make it a perfect drink for all, even non-coffee drinkers. Our favorite thing about this drink was that it wasn’t too sweet but it also didn’t overpower the coffee too much to where it didn’t taste like coffee at all, it’s a perfect mix of both. 

Cold brew with brown sugar and vanilla syrup – 9/10

The Hidden Chapter offers a wide variety of customizable coffee drinks on the coffee portion of the menu. We were able to interview the barista working there who highly recommended this drink.  And as people who have never enjoyed cold brew can say that this was amazing. Like Cheyenne said, it has almost the same characteristics as tea but with the taste of coffee. The brown  sugar and vanilla syrup makes it sweet but does not take away the taste of the coffee completely, making a cold refreshing  drink with a kick of energy and sweetness.

Pride and Pollen Latte – 7/10

From the specialty menu we have the Pride and Pollen latte. We chose this drink because the Pride & Pollen drink is a latte with honey and lavender add ons which made it sound interesting. The drink itself was a very refreshing coffee that tasted like the definition of spring. It had a slight after taste  of lavender but tasted mostly like a regular cold latte with a little bit of honey mixed in, so overall it tasted very light and milky. For non-coffee drinkers, it’s a good drink to get if you like a refreshing or light drink.

Hot Passion Peach tea – 7/10

With the hidden chapter’s wide selection of drinks we got to try their hot passion peach tea. This tea tastes like a sweet peach tasting natural and comforting. It has a very strong smell of peach which smells very good. The peach taste was very natural and fresh, but as good as it was, there was definitely a slight lack in taste and peach flavor. Even though we got a hot version you can also get the tea cold and that could also help the lack of taste.  

Hidden chapter is a great place to enjoy yourself and have a relaxed time. The staff is very welcoming and they have great recommendations on drinks and books for customers. Not only do the people behind the counter help make it an enjoyable experience but so do the other customers.