If you are looking for good coffee in Topeka that isn’t PT’s, Kansas Daily Grind is the place to go.

They serve coffee from the Roasterie Air Roasted Coffee, which is a coffee roasting company in Brookside, a neighborhood in Kansas City, Mo.  It started in the basement of Danny O’Neill’s house in 1993 and since then, he has been cutting out the middle-man by ordering coffee beans directly from the farmers. This is great for local communities and for the people buying the coffee. They have their own cafes in Kansas City and Leawood.

Located downtown on the corner of 10th and Quincy, it’s a nice spot away from campus to hang out or get homework done while enjoying a nice cup of coffee.  The coffee is my favorite thing about KS Daily Grind and why I will keep going back. It’s not too robust, like I find Starbucks coffee to be, and it still has a lot of flavor to it. When I ordered my vanilla ice coffee, the cashier asked how much vanilla I wanted, and if it wasn’t enough, he would add more. Usually, you have to pay for extra, but I didn’t have to here, which I thought was great.

They offer various pastries and sweets baked by Pink City Sweets daily, as well as biscuits and gravy, bratwursts and various lunch specials. I had never heard of Pink City Sweets, located at 3455 SW Brandywine Ct., so I wanted to try something made from there. I ordered a vanilla ice coffee and a cinnamon swirl coffee cake.

The coffee cake was moist and a little crisp on the outside, just like it should be. There was just enough cinnamon as not to overpower, and the sweet bread was an almost pound cake-like texture, which I love.  I would definitely order this pastry again, especially because the price was just right. With the coffee and my 10 percent student discount, I only paid $4.30, which is what you pay for the coffee alone at Starbucks.

My only complaint is that you have to pay for parking since it is located downtown. The price is $1 per hour, which I think is a little steep, so if you want to stay for long periods of time, you are paying for it. The student discount helps, of course, but it won’t cover the parking charge.

To order the Roasterie’s coffee online, go to theroasterie.com where you can learn more about the coffee, as well.

The Kansas Daily Grind has their website, ksdailygrind.com where they have a 10% discount coupon to download.

Check out their Facebook page too.