Burgie’s Coffee & Tea Co. is a place to discover new cafe favorites, from their lattes with homemade syrups to their avocado smash and farmer’s breakfast burrito. Burgie’s is just a few miles from campus, found on Duff and Airport Road, just after US-30. Burgie’s has been open since 1992.

Jordan Burgason, a co-owner of Burgie’s since 2012, shared why he believes Burgie’s has “the best [coffee] in town and just the best around.”

Burgason’s brother, Andrew Burgason, owns Windmill Coffee Roasters, located in west Ames. Burgie’s gets their coffee from Windmill just a day or two after it has been roasted, and they get shipments multiple times a week, ensuring incredibly fresh coffee every time.

While Burgie’s normally offers indoor and outdoor seating, they are currently only taking online and drive-thru orders due to COVID-19, leaving their indoor seating closed. Their drive-thru is fully operational and allows for the full menu to be ordered that way or online.

“We put another window in, so we have two windows on the drive-thru that we can push cars through a lot quicker,” Burgason said.

Outdoor seating is still available for customers. There are about 25-30 seats available outside, which are spread apart for social distancing.

“On a nice day, it’s a great place to sit outside and study,” Burgason said. 

When indoor seating is open, there are normally large groups of students inside studying together. The Salt Company from Cornerstone Church often meets at Burgie’s to socialize together, Burgason said. 

Burgie’s is open from 6 a.m. to 6 p.m. The cafe offers breakfast and lunch menus that allow for made-to-order meals. Breakfast is served from 6 a.m. to 3 p.m., and lunch is served from 11 a.m. to 3 p.m. Their menu also offers a range of bakery items, such as scones, muffins, cookies and more, which are served all day.

“People love to gather and socialize [at Burgie’s],” Burgason said. “It’s really upbeat and just good vibes in the shop.”

As outlined on their website, Burgie’s prides themselves on their high-quality coffee and great hospitality.

In comparison to franchise cafes such as Starbucks and Dunkin’ Donuts, Burgie’s makes their coffee by hand and by careful measurements rather than by machine.

“Those big corporate coffee shops have an automatic espresso machine, and so everything they do, they just push a button and it does it for them, as opposed to ours: we weigh out all of our coffee to the 10th of a gram,” Burgason said. “We weigh out our syrups to the gram. Everything is very precise so that we can be consistent.” 

Burgie’s also puts latte art on their drinks, which adds a nice, personal touch not found at large franchise cafes. This is now a bit harder to see now with all orders being to-go, but Burgason said you can take your lid off and it will still be under there for you.

Burgie’s Coffee and Tea Co. has Instagram and Facebook pages where you can find updates on the local cafe.