By Adelaide Parker Globe Correspondent,Updated April 8, 2025, 7:36 a.m.
Like any good college student, I’m always running on coffee. I recently spent a month sampling all the cafés in Harvard Square to find the best my campus has to offer. Here are my recommendations for which coffee shops to visit (and which to avoid).
Blank Street — 8/10
Blank Street’s Harvard Square location opened last year and has been packed ever since — especially because of its Regulars program, which allows members to get essentially unlimited coffee for a flat weekly subscription. Because Regulars subscriptions are tightly capped, they’re a coveted commodity on campus. (I’ve been trying to get one for months — if you have a referral code, my email is at the bottom of this article.)
I ordered the Daydream Latte with cinnamon and honey on the Blank Street app. The app took a few minutes to load, but from there, ordering was easy. Blank Street is right next to the Harvard T station, so I grabbed my drink on my way to work. The cinnamon shone through nicely, and although the drink was sweet, it wasn’t overly so. I wish I’d been able to taste the espresso more, though.
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Blank Street, 1380 Massachusetts Ave., Cambridge. blankstreet.com
Price range: $3.50-$9. Most simple drinks (an espresso, americano, or cappuccino) are just under $4, but flavored drinks and larger sizes reach $9.
Bluebottle — 10/10
Bluebottle is my personal favorite Harvard Square coffee shop. Every morning, I come here and order a 16-ounce iced NOLA (cold brew concentrate with chicory). In my opinion, the NOLA is the perfect drink. It has a refreshing taste with just the right amount of coffee flavor, it only takes one minute to prepare, and its caffeine content is equivalent to four espresso shots.
Bluebottle is on the pricier end of Harvard Square cafés, but its coffee is noticeably high-quality. (Even Jeffrey Grossman, an MIT professor who teaches a class on coffee, says Bluebottle is the best coffee chain.) Service is fast, but seating is limited and not very comfortable. Bluebottle works best as a place to order coffee to-go.
Bluebottle, 40 Bow St., Cambridge. bluebottlecoffee.com
Price range: $6-$9.
Café Gato Rojo — 9/10
Café Gato Rojo, in the basement of Harvard Yard’s Lehman Hall, is this list’s only student-run café. If you’re not a Harvard student, you can’t enter. But if you are a Harvard student, it’s wonderful! The café is packed with tables and cozy armchairs, and there’s always an ambient buzz of conversation and indie music. It’s one of my favorite places to sit and work.
I ordered a chai latte because, at 3:30 p.m., it was too late in the day to drink something genuinely caffeinated. The latte was tasty and came ….
