Alvarium Roasting Company

Alvarium Roasting Company shares space with Alvarium Beer Co's brewery, tucked into a small business complex in New Britain, and the crossover is most of the appeal of the visit. One customer met the brewery pup on their first stop in, which is the kind of welcome a brewery cafe should deliver and most don't. The cafe is cute and chill, a tight interior that was recently expanded slightly, with outdoor seating that becomes the main draw once the weather turns warm in the spring. Dogs are welcome inside without any awkward asks at the door. The bar program leans on housemade syrups, with bourbon vanilla bean and spicy ginger leading the lineup as the standouts. Order the Bourbon Vanilla Bean hot coffee or latte, or The Elvis, which builds a mocha with peanut butter and a banana cold foam that sounds like a novelty but holds together as a serious drink. The iced brown sugar latte comes with brown sugar granules at the bottom and benefits from an extra double shot if you want the coffee to push back through the sweetness. The cold brew is strong enough to mention by name. The bakery case has croissants, chocolate chip cookies, and pumpkin bread worth ordering, with the pumpkin bread getting the most repeat mentions from customers who keep coming back through the fall. There's a stamp-card reward program if you become a regular, and a second location in West Hartford if you're closer to that side of the state. The brewery in back gives the whole operation a casual local-business feel that the corporate cafe chains can't replicate even when they try. Best fit for dog owners, beer-and-coffee crossover customers using the brewery in back, third-wave drinkers who want house-roasted beans, and outdoor seating fans in spring and summer when the patio opens up. Less good for laptop work. The indoor space is tight and wasn't set up for it, and that's true even after the recent expansion.