Academic Coffee, located on 499 S. Second Street, has served decadent coffees and teas to the Downtown San Jose community since 2017.
Founder Frank Nguyen said the name for the cafe came from his dedication to the lifelong pursuit of coffee knowledge and an encapsulation of a significant moment in his life.
“At the time that I had started the business, I had gone to Antarctica in my previous [field working in] the travel industry and the ship we were on was a science vessel called the Academic,” Nguyen said.
The cafe offers patrons traditional coffee house favorites such as the espresso latte, Americano and Cortado.
I am always happy to see a Cortado on a cafe's menu because my first time actually enjoying an espresso beverage was drinking a Cortado.
Cortados derived from the Spanish word “cotar” meaning “to cut” can trace its origins to Basque Country, which is located in the northern region of Spain.
The drink is a simple beverage consisting of steamed milk, espresso and little-to-no foam culminating in a drink that is more palatable since the acidity of the espresso is “cut” by the milk, according to a Jan. 12, 2021 Roasty Coffee article.
Roasty Coffee is a coffee enthusiast platform dedicated to promoting brewing coffee in the “slow way” and has been publishing since 2015, according to its website.
While the cafe serves classics, it also sells drinks that incorporate international flavors such as the Pandan latte, Piloncillo Cinnamon latte and Honey Assam Au Lait.
Pandan is an aromatic, tropical tree found in southeast Asia with leaves featuring a sweet flavor profile similar to vanilla, according to a July 19, 2021 The Spruce Eats article.
The Spruce Eats is a food website with articles intended to help ametuer chefs create amazing dishes with less confusion, according to its website.
“I came here my freshman year . . . and I had their Pandan Oat milk Latte and I know that sounds really basic and everything, but it was super delicious,” said Dillon Gadoury, business marketing junior.
The Pandan latte is one of the cafe's signature drinks and consists of a pandan syrup, espresso and the patron's choice of dairy or non-dairy milk.
“I don’t always like my coffee really sweet… so I ask for 50% [level] sweetness, but it has this really nice earthy nuttiness to it, which I love,” Gadoury said.
The pandan syrup, as well as every other syrup used at Academic Coffee, is freshly made on site, Nguyen said.
“A lot of customers will pop in every now and then and they are like ‘Oh, what’s that smell?’ and it’s like we just made our piloncillo cinnamon syrup,” he said.
Piloncillo is a Mexican cane sugar, which is sometimes called Mexican brown sugar, and is usually found in any grocery store, looking like hardened baked sugar cones.
When I visited Academic Coffee, I felt like a “gorgeous, gorgeous girl” so I had their Iced Matcha Vanilla Latte as the TikTok trend proclaims.
Matcha is a green tea that’s finely ground into a powder and can be used to make drinks and flavor desserts, according to Dictionary.com.
The ethically sourced matcha powder used at Academic Coffee is from the Aichi Japanese prefecture, a region that’s been cultivating the plant since the 13th century, according to Academic Coffees website.
The Iced Vanilla Matcha Latte was superb and featured a light, almost unnoticeable, vanilla flavor and a solid yet subtle earthy matcha hit.
This is not surprising considering that the matcha is comparable to ceremonial grade matcha, which is the highest grade of matcha available, according to the cafe’s website.
As the Iced Matcha latte delicately danced on all of my taste buds, I rested peacefully under the protection of the large shady tree on the corners of South Second and William street where Academic Coffee has outdoor light pink and blue seating.
“I feel like, you know, we're in downtown, where a lot of things can get hectic or can be loud,” Gadory said. “But I feel like you come here and you’re kinda in your own world where it’s very calm.”
