Capanna

Hello g's and gent's, ladies and such. Capanna (kuh-pahn-uh) Café is our third victim for review. They have 3 locations: one in Iowa City, one in North Liberty, and one in our lovely town of Ames. They serve your typical café beverages, including lattés, mochas, cappuccinos, and fruit smoothies...you know, the usual. BUT one mind-blowing perk that this place has is gelato. Don't know what that is? Google it. Jk we've done that for you. According to the ever wise, know-it-all Wikipedia, gelato is "the italian word for ice cream and sorbet. Italians use the word gelato to mean a sweet treat that is served frozen. Indeed, gelato just like ice cream is made with Milk, cream, various sugars, flavoring including fresh fruit and nut purees." It has less fat and less sugar content than ice cream and the flavors are so much more refreshing. At Capanna they have fruity flavors such as mango, peach, lemon, and even raspberry jalepeño. Their sweet flavors include skotcharoo, chocolate-hazelnut, turtle mocha, wedding cake, and your plain old chocolate, as well as a variety of other lip smacking flavors that are all made fresh daily.

The coffee is pretty fantabulous too! We weren't feeling too explorational tonight so we stuck to our usual order of a turtle mocha for me (Abby O.) and a caramel latté for Abner J. To be honest, it was comparable to Caribou or Starbucks, which we love both, however nothing really stood out to our taste buds. The strawberry smoothie on the other hand...phewfta! It was like eating a strawberry injected with orange juice which I loved! Fresh flavor and not too sweet. Happiness in my tummy.

On to the service and atmosphere. The ladies that work here are friendly AND the best part is they let you taste-test the gelato. MMMMMMMM! A cozy little area is nestled on the side of the café with a couch and chairs that are so plush they practically swallowed us whole. Talk about the unexpected. But they do offer a very comfy place to crochet (pics of Abby J below). FUN FUN FUN. Wi-Fi is available and plenty of locations for computer chargers are available for those who need a good hangout while they study or work or just plain want to procrastinate and Facebook creep or surf our personal favorite website, Pinterest. There are also oddly enough children's books in the cozy nook area! So if you want to catch up on your childhood reading this is the place to go!

All in all, a great little coffee shop! You've GOT to stop in and try the gelato. It's gelicious.

Abner crocheting

VEGGIE TALES and BERT AND ERNIE!