Every Brew Cafe on campus might serve coffee, tea and a variety of snacks, but that doesn’t mean they’re made equal in terms of quality, speed, atmosphere and overall dependability in the eyes of Marquette students.
With five different locations, from the Alumni Memorial Union’s Brew Bayou to the Library’s Brew at the Bridge, each location has a unique vibe and set of characteristics that set it apart.
For Makoa da Silva, a freshman in the College of Education, it was the Brew Bayou’s location that put it at the top of his list. “I think just (because of its) central location,” da Silva said. “It’s perfect, right between classes and stuff.”
da Silva wasn’t alone in his selection. The overall Brew Cafe champion of the day was the AMU’s Brew Bayou, which lies at the heart of campus right across from the spirit shop and got nine of the twelve votes tallied.
“(I like) the location, the atmosphere and the music that plays there,” Erin Dewey, a senior in the College of Health Sciences, said. “There’s just more going on there.”
With open mic nights and frequent struggles to find an empty table, Brew Bayou is definitely a popular place to be on campus. Yet if you catch it at the right time, it can be relaxing and a perfect spot for studying.
“I like that there’s space where I can sit down, do homework and relax,” Jack Smedley, a sophomore in the College of Arts & Sciences, said.
Sophomore in the College of Communication and Brew employee Hannah Campbell verified that of several Brew Cafes she has worked at, the AMU is by far the most popular.
“The AMU is for sure the busiest,” Campbell said. “You know it’s going to be a busy shift when you’re working there.”
While the Brew Bayou may have been the crowd-picked campus favorite, some students like Tom Becker, a senior in the College of Business Administration, were passionate about their favorite Brew.
“I like the Bridge, mostly just ’cause it’s convenient and quick for going to the library,” Becker said. Similar to the Brew Bayou, the Brew at the Bridge is consistently populated with students working and chatting with peers between the floor-to-ceiling windows of the modern space.
Just one building east of the Brew at the Bridge, the lower-level Brew at Cudahy drew positive words from Becca Bixler, a junior in the College of Health Sciences.
“I think the (Brew) in Cudahy is really convenient,” Bixler said, noting that its presence both across from and below popular classrooms made it a frequent stop for hungry, thirsty and sleepy students.
But just as many students expressed their disdain for the Cudahy Brew. It was by far the most critiqued.
“I used to go to the Brew at the bottom of Cudahy all the time, and the line was always super long,” Olyvia Wycklendt, a junior in the College of Engineering, said. “And if I needed coffee, I would be a few minutes late to class.”
In the same vein as the more negative opinions about the Cudahy Brew, Campbell stated that the basement coffee shop is definitely the slowest Brew to work at, even arguing with a co-worker who thought another might be the least popular.
“Oh, Cudahy is definitely slower than the Bridge,” Campbell said. “I can’t think of a slower shift than when working at Cudahy.”
Though not mentioned for negative traits, the Brew at Straz went virtually unmentioned by students as they racked their brain for a favorite. Zoe Campbell, a senior in the College of Arts & Sciences, said she didn’t know about the location for a long time.
“I’m a senior, and I didn’t know that it existed until my sophomore year,” Campbell said. She guessed that many other students perhaps don’t know about the location.
When it comes to the Brew staff, however, the Brew at Straz is not to be so easily forgotten. Sure, it may not stick out or be considered quite as loved, but it is definitely just as visited, senior in the College of Arts & Sciences and Brew employee Alejandro Hernandez said.
“(The Brew at) Straz is super busy in the morning with people coming from morning classes,” Hernandez said. Though he also confirmed that the AMU was the busiest Brew to work at, he was sure not to let the Brew that had caused him some hectic mornings go unmentioned.
The scarcely mentioned, virtually unknown Brew of the day was one that was fiercely guarded by its devoted fans: the relatively new Brew Cafe at the dental school, which was added midway through last semester.
“It’s easily the nicest Brew,” Wycklendt said. “It looks like a really, really high-end coffee shop. I always try to get coffee from there.”
John Petitjean, a senior in the College of Business Administration, said the hidden gem is his favorite, even adding that he “was there on the day it opened.”
Each Brew, whether popular or unfrequented, has its fans and foes. And to decide which of those groups one falls in, it takes a trip over to the School of Dentistry or journey into the depths of Cudahy to visit each of Marquette’s coffee shops for oneself.
