Northwest Coffee Roasting Company

This was my favorite coffee place for many years due to the coffee (especially lattes) and convenience. With the previous owner there was a staff person who had a terrible attitude and I stopped going. Over the last year, everything is back to high quality. The last couple of times the iced lattes were exceptional and I was blown away by the friendliness of the newer staff.

A pretty typical local corner coffee shop. Coffee, tea and smoothies were good. Location is great, right on the edge of Clayton. Challenges are the uncomfortable chairs and only one small sofa/​couch. Not a very warm feeling – one big open room with hard floors and hard wood chairs. Internet worked OK. Lots of metered parking around is helpful. Seems to have a good local following of nearby folks, but it’s a pretty typical local corner coffee otherwise.

Northwest has always had quality coffee and now the service is good as well. I’m happy to say they are back on my list of go to spots for coffee in St. Louis.
Only odd service flaw is how one of the baristas asks if you want to add a tip when using a credit card rather than turning the (iPad?) register towards the customer to let you sign and choose to add a tip like the rest do. It’s so uncomfortable to be asked how much/​if you want to tip.

The coffee is great here and the atmosphere is cool. BUT, it’s never a quick coffee. Even if you are the only one ordering it is slow. I order the same thing every time (multiple times a week) and the price is rarely the same. They use to be under different ownership and staff was consistent, friendly and faster. New ownership doesn’t appear to be a good thing.

I just stopped in for the first time in a while. First you should know that there are always spots on the street to park in. I ordered coffee and two eggs. They serve barista steamed eggs. I’ve never heard of that but I do like poached eggs, so why not. I grabbed a seat by the window to the east in the sun. In the morning this is a great spot. The eggs were good, I wish I had bought a bagel too. The coffee here is always good and did not disappoint. I recommend northwest.

This might be my all time favorite place for coffee! It is strong and has a great flavor even if you get a specialty drink! Their food is also really good, they make their eggs with the milk frother so they are nice and fluffy! I have recently moved to Cleveland from STL and have not found anything that compares to Northwest; I know where I will be going next time I am in St. Louis!
They do sell their coffee online which is a bonus for us out of towners!

Since I work nearby this has become a regular stop before work. The interior has the coffee shop vibe and they have a local artist display work which is a nice way to enter the day. I am very monogamous with my coffee, always doing the non fat mocha, no whip and it is always just right. The only suggestion I have for the drink is that it would be nice if they used chocolate sauce as opposed to chocolate powder for the drink. On occasion the powder does not get completely infused.
Service is always courteous and as prompt as the line allows. They also have an extensive breakfast menu with very generous portions and reasonable prices and assorted breakfast pastries. All in all a great little coffee shop that helps start my day on a positive note.
Cheers!

Courteous & authentic. Very good mocha.

The best peppermint mocha I’ve had in awhile and a fresh melt in your mouth roast beef sandwich that was worth the wait. Awesome service. 5 beans up!

I visited here yesterday 8÷28÷13. I haven’t been here in years & it was so great to go back. I am giving up Starbucks & am on a mission to visit all the local coffee shops. This place has friendly staff & delicious lattes & scones. I work in Clayton so it was convenient to stop by. I will be back.

Been going here for years, great coffee, food and customer service.

Good place to have coffee and do some work. The food menu is extremely limited and unchanging, yet I saw people eating things that were not on the menu so perhaps they make special requests… I dunno.
I gotta say, tho, that the vibe is weird in here. I’ve gone to the place a few times, just to be sure the vibe deal wasn’t a one or two day thing. Nope, it’s always like that. The staff seem oddly to be preoccupied with something that’s not at the ready for customers. I can’t put my finger on it, but something is weird there. Still, it’s okay to hang and the coffee is good. I wouldn’t become a regular tho.
Parking is very limited. Seems to serve mostly the shoe company employees who can walk over from across the street.

Give it to me straight. Give it to me black. This is how I like my coffee, with no added fluff. If you’re the type that drown your coffee in cream and sugar, you might as well get it at the gas station and save yourself a few bucks. But, for those of us who actually enjoy the taste of our coffee, and appreciate a locally roasted bean, there’s places like Northwest Coffee Roasting in Clayton.
Just to keep the control group consistant, I take a test drive on coffee by ordering up an Americano. For those of you who don’t know, an Americano is espresso and hot water. This ratio is typically 1 shot for small, 2 for a medium, and 4 for a large. However, Northwest uses a 2, 2, and 4 ratio for their blend. Their beans are roasted using a full city roast that gives the espresso a mild, smooth, and not too bitter flavor. I thoroughly enjoyed my Americano, although, a little expensive. It ran about $.50 more than Americanos at other shops. Thinking about it, if what their website states is correct and they use 2 shots for a small, this really isn’t too bad. It just means that for their medium, you pay an extra $.20 for a larger cup and 2oz. more hot water. This could be to offset the amount of extra fluff their customers might use destroying their coffee in a larger cup.
Now, coffee shops aren’t just about the product they put in your cup. They are about ambiance. This is where Northwest is lacking. Disappointingly, the décor is less than inspired and might as well be a hospital waiting room. The plain-​Jane, monotonous spread of wooden tables, white and surgical ward blue walls aren’t the easiest to sit and stare at, or even the most comfortable place to sit. They’re not getting a spread in Better Homes and Gardens anytime soon. Also, the menu is a cookie cutter, plastic spread of even less inspired white plastic pieces that display what they offer. The saving grace here is the abstract art they were featuring at the moment as I did end up examining every piece in the collection.
So, what if you’re craving a bite to eat as you enjoy your locally crafted coffee brew? Northwest does offer up some nosh to curb your appetite. The pastries are a limited stock of muffins and a really nice selection of doughnuts rarely seen at a java joint. A pretty loaded menu of breakfast sandwiches line their morning selection with my eye resting on one with pretzel bread. I’ll be coming back for that one. Lunch has a run-​of-​a-​mill selection of four sandwiches served with chips all at $ 6.50 which isn’t bad at all.
Great coffee, a drab interior, and a decent selection of edible items pretty much describe the Clayton location of Northwest Coffee Roasters. It’s not going to be a place you chill for a couple of hours, but come in to enjoy great locally roasted coffee. It has my vote as one of the best roasters in STL. Stop by and support your community, and if that’s not your bag, it should FORKIN’ better be.

We returned for more coffee… always tasty.
I was a little put off by the people working the counter. The gentleman at the register was a little slow, didn’t seem to have the rhythm down… But the woman was so unfriendly. Ordering a parfait was the most difficult and frustrating experience I have had in a long time.
The coffee was amazing, like normal. The food was simple.

Pleased at the hours and selection of food and drink. Was only picking up beans but we’ll be back when in the area. Wish CWE had the same setup.

Just okay coffee. I have been here several times and I just don’t dig this place mostly because I am picky about my beans. The coffee is sub par in my opinion. The décor is plain and lackluster. The location is random. I would come here if I desperately needed a cup o’ joe and was nearby but I doubt I would go out of my way for this place.
On the bright side, service is always friendly. Their egg sandwich menu looks pretty delish and they steam the eggs with an old espresso machine steamer. Very cool!

Whenever my husband and I travel we always try to make it to the top rated espresso places in the city. Recently we traveled to St. Louis for a wedding and, as self-​proclaimed coffee snobs, were craving a great cappuccino in between the ceremony and the reception. After looking at Unilocal reviews we settled on Northwest Coffee for our St. Louis espresso experience. The capp was delicious and the staff definitely knew what they were doing.
I think after looking at the other lower rated reviews I understand better. If you want great coffee… go here. If you want pastries, tarts, and eggs… go somewhere else. Their specialty is coffee and I like it that way.

A great break from the chains — and this is coming from a daily drinker of Starbuck’s. Also, they are truly sustainability/​green focused — bonus points.
I’m in St. Louis for the Summer and was recommended to go here by a friend who went to Wash U Undergrad. The coffee is more robust and flavorful than elsewhere. Today it is about 95 degrees outside, so they have the A/​C going and the iced drinks are popular (both coffee and smoothie based). I tried an iced coffee, which is high quality. My gym is in Clayton and will be headed there after this, but between here and the CWE location I will definitely be back to try the entire menu of cool beverages and enjoy their WiFi and A/​C this summer. A great place to read and the house music is a mix of indy, alternative, and 80/​90s rock. The art on the wall is nice too — definitely original works not just prints.
When trying to find it, be forewarned, it blends into the area from the outside [which I think is good] — there’s free parking in the lot behind it. Open ’til 6pm daily.

My colleague and I were craving coffeine this morning, so I decided to run to Northwest, which is only a couple minutes from work.
All I can say is BLECH. Ordered a chai latte. Definitely the worst one I’ve ever had. It was watery and utterly flavorless. I wouldn’t have thought it even had any «latte» in it other than the foam on the top. It tasted like a tea bag on the third brewed cup. Nasty. I couldn’t even drink it. What a waste of money!

I’m loving Northwest Coffee even more now since they started serving eggs several days ago.
Plain eggs, eggs with cheese, eggs in a tortilla, eggs on a bagel, eggs on an English muffin… you get the picture.
They actually steam their eggs under one of their espresso machines! So, they come out extra light and fluffy, and the water expands them nicely. No butter or oils necessary!
And, their eggs are locally-​sourced from the River Hills Poultry Alliance. They’re ‘happy eggs’, as they come from free-​range chickens that are free of antibiotics and humanely raised. And yes, you CAN taste the difference.
They still make the meanest latte ever here, too! Try ‘em.