By: Toby Martin-Kohls

Caribou Coffee is a worldwide coffee chain headquartered in Brooklyn Park, Minnesota. It was also founded here in-state, in Edina, in 1992. As of May 2015, the company operates 603 locations worldwide.

Caribou is your typical American brand coffee chain, similar to Starbucks, Dunkin, Dutch Bros, and Peet’s coffee chains. They offer coffee and an array of snacks and bakery items.

On a Saturday morning, I decided to go venture out and try some of their bakery items, which I’d never tried before. This article was a good excuse for me to go buy some coffee, muffins, croissants, and scones.

The service I received was pretty good. I felt the price for the items was reasonable and each of the three items I tried, were all offered to be warmed up for me.

The first item I tried was their Blueberry Muffin. I received the muffin in a typical brown to-go bag. I’m going to be honest, looking at the muffin out of the bag was uninspiring. You could see a couple of blueberries from the top but not as much as you would like to see.

I was pleasantly surprised when I bit into the muffin, as it was warm and not dry. You could taste the blueberries but they didn’t overpower the muffin. It was sweet, but not overly sweet (like some of the other items!). The texture was wonderful, making it easy to enjoy.

The next item I sampled was their Raspberry White Chocolate Scone. It took me two locations to find them, so this may be a popular item. I opted to not have this one warmed up and was satisfied with my choice.

The white chocolate was the best part of the item, as it was nice to differentiate from just regular chocolate.

Fun fact: did you know that white chocolate is not actually chocolate and is actually made of just sugar, cocoa butter, and milk?

I was surprised by the sweetness of the chocolate complimenting the raspberry taste, but it worked pretty well. I thought the scone was soft and almost buttery-like, which made it enjoyable to eat without feeling too heavy or dense.

The sweetness was pretty good and balanced, but the coarse sugar sprinkled on the top might be a little much for some.

The last item I tried was their Lemon Poppy Seed Bread. As an avid lover of poppy seed muffins, I was excited to try this item. It is an old-fashioned pound cake with lemon zest, black poppy seeds, and icing.

I also got this item warmed up, which I think greatly improved the niceness of this item. Having your pastry warm just adds another level of comfort. The balance of flavors stood out to me, as the lemon flavor was there without being too overpowering of the bread. I got a little tired of the icing, but most will not notice the sweetness as much as I did.

Overall, Caribou has a solid selection of pastry items, perfect for when you want a little snack with your coffee on your way to work, school, or whatever!