J & S Bean Factory

The neighborhood coffee shop & it’s good! The environment is always welcoming and I never feel like the baristas are snobbish if I don’t know what I want. I’m not a coffee expert by any means, but I enjoy the coffee here, whether I’m getting a regular roast or a latte. They also have some baked goods there (highly recommend the oatmeal raisin walnut cookies!!!) that go great with the morning or afternoon coffee.
I like the outdoor seating and can be especially nice on a dark night.

Best coffee shop in the metro. Their blended mocha is seriously the best, it blows a Frappuccino out of the water and goes levels above. They have almond milk! And their staff is outstanding. Great sense of community

If you are a coffee fan this the perfect place for you! The smell of coffee is all over the place, I love it! The music is fantastic too. However, the furniture is fairly old and need to be replaced, and the baked goods are ok.

You can tell that this is a little older place. Not too much room between tables, so you its very cramped and not ideal for studying. I got a white mocha, and it was so-​so. Overall, an OK experience. I’ve been to much better coffee shops.
The barista was very friendly guy. He messed up on my order, but quickly made me a new one. :)

Hotdish, Tapas and i usually go to the Dunn Bros. on Grand for our coffee/​hot chocolate/​pastry fix and the excellent people-​watching, but Hotdish and I decided to try something new. I was so completely pleasantly surprised by this place.
The adorable hipster boy was the best barista (baristo?) I’ve encountered in any coffee shop in the Cities. He seemed genuinely glad to see us though he’d never seen us before. Our order was taken and made so quickly that i barely had a chance to look at the local beauty swag on the wall.
We sat out front. Here is the only drawback: the people-​watching was almost nothing. I’d like to think it will improve when Randolph reopens, but that section of Randolph isn’t really a high foot traffic neighborhood. Not at all like the corner of Grand and Snelling, which has some of the best foot traffic in St Paul.
My caramel latte (yes, yes. So basic. Cut me some slack, I’ve aged out of my hipsterness) was perfect. And no whip! I forgot to request no whip and Adorable Hipster Boy must’ve read my mind. Plus 100 points for psychic ability here.
When he left his shift, AHB not only acknowledged us but thanked us, which is both shocking and a big deal once you reach the middle age of invisibility. Just you wait; you’ll see eventually why this is so impressive.
The place is cute & cozy, the staff are great and the coffee was perfectly sufficient. Yay to trying new things!

I tried J&S because it made a list of top 10 coffee houses in Minneapolis, but I was not super impressed with it. The atmosphere was nice enough, and the wifi was fast and free, but the coffee was simply mediocre. Also, they served to-​go coffees in Styrofoam cups… a total no-​no in my book. There are better choices than this nearby.

I’ve been here twice and had two nearly opposite experiences. The first time I had a very good mocha. Not too sweet with a great tasting espresso blend and milk.
The second time so had a bad café latte that was bitter and weak tasting.
If their blend didn’t change, and since I got the same 16 oz size each time, I can only guess that their mocha covered up a bitter espresso blend or the barista really messed up, though I think it was the same guy each time I went.
I’m always leery of coffee houses with trinkets and baubles gone wild, taking up seating and looking tacky as all hell. Who knows, maybe they are raking in the cash with it.
Anyway, the atmosphere was friendly with a nice patio and woodsy feel.

This place has fair trade Yirgacheffe for 14.50lb as of 8÷11÷2014. They made me a pour over and it was delicious. Lots of blueberries. The inside is cool and lots of nice people seem to come here. I like it a lot!

I’ve wondered about this place for years, but it was never quite on my route to and fro.
The three star rating is on first impression alone. When I finally stopped in, I was immediately a little wary of the «Obama Brew» sign in the window. Don’t get me wrong, I’d be wary of a «Bush Brew» (for sooooo many more reasons). (Michael Jordan always said Republicans buy shoes, too, as far as why he never endorsed a party.) I just wasn’t up for political sparring over my cold press.
I wasn’t asked to show my voter registration card AND got a nicely priced, decent cup of iced coffee.
Overall, it seems like a cute place with decent drinks and food. I would just rather escape to non-​partisan land while drinking a brew.

My favorite coffee shop in the Twin Cities. The coffee is great, all roasted on premises. They have an excellent menu of drinks, maybe too good because it takes folks a long to order :). They also have a nice variety of beans to go, all are expertly roasted.
The ambiance is very nice, very much a neighborhood shop. Weekends can get really crowded and at time they turn off the WiFi which is super annoying. I’ve been bringing my phone hotspot and doing fine.
Baked goods and food are very limited, this is really a coffee only place.
Highly recommend this spot!

I go to J & S at least once a month to get coffee beans. I always get Steves Smoky Double Dark and recently I noticed Steve also has a smoky Light version. The beans are amazing and always fresh. My favorite drink to get is the Thai Latte with whole milk. It is creamy and sweet but not artificially sweet.
The Wi-​fi is free and they accept donations just because it is a small local bean factory. A lot of the beans that are roasted in shop are organic and fair trade. This is the place to go to get amazing coffee. It is not cheap if you want a fancy drink but for just a cup of black coffee you can’t go wrong.

I am a frequenter of coffee shops in Saint Paul, and while J&S isn’t my favorite, sometimes it’s just right for my mood. The patrons aren’t as cheeky and lean-​over-​and-​talk friendly and the staff look more like they should be working at an auto shop, but they are friendly enough and make a pretty good cold press.
It’s only two blocks from my house, so during nice weather, I’ll walk up for the simple allure of the back patio (Note: If I had to drive here, I wouldn’t bother — there are plenty of other coffee shops that are much more remarkable). I appreciate that there are sections outside that are labeled nonsmoking — a rarity it seems to outdoor dining in MSP. There is also a covered section, which is nice for days where it’s sprinkling or super sunny.
The food and baked goods have much to be desired, but that’s fine by me — keeps the temptation at bay — ha!
The inside is grungy, but purposefully so. This is not meant to be your upscale coffee house. Come in with expectations of that hole-​in-​the-​wall neighborhood bar and you’ll do just fine.

Simply the best coffee and the nicest staff! (Plus, if I’m lucky, when I leave I small like roasted coffee!!!)

I have been here a number of times and each time I like it more. The Good: Local people hanging out and talking (not all on laptops with ear buds in), VERY good espresso, friendly staff, outdoor seats when I bring my dog. The Bad: a bit dirty but it adds to the charm of the place in a weird way.
After a few times this place will quickly become your favorite. If you’ve tried it once, try it a few more times!

Very happy with my latest stop in to J&S. It’s been awhile but I wanted to treat myself to some really good coffee beans, so I made a pit stop for a pound of my favorite French Roast Costa Rican beans.
The young man who helped me was super pleasant and surprised me by telling me that there is now a punch card loyalty program for coffee buyers. Buy nine pounds get one free. While I will say that I feel this coffee is worth every penny of the $ 13.75 a pound price, this unexpected bonus makes me feel like I’m getting a little bit of a better deal. (OK — so when you run the math it’s $ 12.38 a pound instead of $ 13.75, but it still FEELS like a way better deal).
And, with my coffee bean purchase today, he informed me, I was also entitled to a free cup of coffee right there to take with me. I’m never one to turn down free coffee!
So wanted to let Unilocal know about these new perks for coffee bean/​ground purchasers, and also give another shout out to a really excellent local business.

Cute quirky neighborhood coffee shop! I love the atmosphere here. Everyone seems to know each other, neighbors apparently run into each other here, and more than once the person at the table next to us has chimed into our conversation. The staff are friendly and seem to really take pride in the coffee they serve — I had a mexican mocha last time I went, and the barista was intensely into making my drink. I hadn’t experienced that before — he got excited about the espresso shot in my drink and seemed genuinely chuffed when I told him my drink was very pretty. It was refreshing.
The décor is very casual, not at all stuffy. It’s a great place for a chat with a friend on the weekend. On the weekend it’s probably too loud in there (with chatting, not music — refreshing again!) to get work done. Not sure about weekdays.
The baked goods could maybe use some work — they’re not bad, they just haven’t blown me away. The drinks I’ve had here have been strong, which is really my only criteria for good coffee.
Based on their sidewalk dog stickers, their patio is dog friendly! Looks like it’d be an excellent place to hang out with a pup in nice weather — it’s a big patio area with spread out-​ish seating and not very much foot traffic going by.
Oh, head’s up — on the weekends, parking is kind of a pain. It’s on-​street only and a lot of it is only 2 hours. You might end up walking a block or two.

My first time here and it’s 5 minutes away. It was 6:30 PM and I had a hot chocolate. It was standard. I loved the yellow mug it came in. It’s split into 2 rooms. If you want to read or any kind of peace stay in the front. The main room is really loud, but it’s full of people enjoying themselves. That patio does look like a fun place to hang out so that’s a possibility this spring.

J & S Bean Factory turns out to be the epitome of a neighborhood coffee shop. The counter was staffed by 3 or 4 boys who appeared to be of high school age, and my assumption would be that they are all hometown neighborhood boys. Everyone here seemed to know each other, and those who didn’t expressed to those who said that they’re from South Minneapolis: «Oh, wow, you’re a long way from home!» (You know, 5 miles.) The shop is quaint: rough around the edges, well-​worn, comfortable, and homey. And quite small. It was a hub of activity at all times. They kept the music either very quiet or completely off, and conversations were the special of the day. One wall in the main seating area is covered with canisters of coffee beans that you can purchase in bulk.
The coffee, however, was much less notable. I didn’t order my standard Americano because it doesn’t seem to me that an Americano should cost more than an Espresso, since it is just an espresso with water in it. Thus my drink of choice was a good ol’ drip coffee, the Kenya AA ($ 1.86+tax). I also ordered a mocha chip shortbread cookie ($ 1.50), which I’ll just sum up by saying was perfect with coffee. The coffee at first didn’t seem to have any flavor whatsoever, and I was slightly disappointed. However, when it cooled down to my preferred temperature («warm») it seemed to brighten quite a bit. Still, in my extremely novice opinion, the coffee was of average character. It’s probably not something I would order again.
In general, I thought J & S was a fun little neighborhood shop worth a visit. My only true let down was that they served the coffee to me in a styrofoam (sigh) cup. I saw that a few people did have glass mugs, so I don’t know if they were just all dirty, or you have to ask for one, but I think reusable mugs should always, always, always be a coffee shop’s M.O. unless you explicitly ask for it to-​go – first for the environment, and second for the coffee drinking experience.

After a meeting at Lynden’s down the street last Friday, I decided to camp out in St. Paul for a beautiful day. J&S was the spot!
J&S is a genuine neighborhood coffeeshop that serves a solid cold press and all kinds of coffee beans to brew at home. Though the décor could use a little sprucing up, the rough edges sorta add to the charm.
I found the large patio to be a perfect place to get some work done on a warm day. It’s very dog-​friendly and it’s basically like a big backyard. Many of the tables out there are built for more than one person, so I was ready to share my space if it got busy.
I usually judge coffee shops on their espresso drinks (which I didn’t try here), but the cold press was so good it inspired me to break out my Toddy and brew my own the next morning.
Lastly, this has nothing to do with my opinion of J&S as a whole… but I still can’t believe it actually happened: There was an adult couple next to me talking to each other in baby voices while playing with little dolls. For about 10 minutes. Yep.

Me Likes! We went here as we are ferociously trying to use up our Entertainment Book coupons by month end and I was pleasantly surprised.
We ordered a SF mocha and a SF Italian Soda. My drink was a little strong and bitter but once I threw a few splenda and more milk in it, it rocked! The Italian Soda was so-​so…
What I love about this place is the Patio! Why didn’t I come here earlier in the summer? It is like a large back yard and they have so many different types of chairs and benches. I even think they separate the smokers from the nonsmokers THANK YOU J &S!!!
Put all this together with them being dog-​friendly and I am a fan. The Baristas were all male, super nice and efficient. The inside seemed like a nice place to hang out as well so even with Winter coming and no patio, I will be back!