Perks Coffee Shop

Yes! The barista Nick, that guy is fantastic! He’s funny, nice and super willing to help out! Coffee shops are all about the service. Anywhere you’re getting decent coffee but great service is a place I’m willing to come back to. A campus coffeeshop that, in my opinion, goes way above a standard campus coffeeshop. The coffee is decent, the food is pretty good at least for breakfast, but the service is great and welcoming. If you’re on UCSD campus, swing by and get the Cubano, my personal favorite here!

I love getting Cubano espresso here. USCD-​Protected is pretty spotty here.

Do not order a macchiato or a Cubano unless you want to get a cupful of foam and 99 per cent milk. My Cubano was milky white and I could not taste the coffee. My macchiato order, usually a shot of espresso with a small bit of cream on the surface nicely blended in a tiny cup when done right, yielded a 5 inch cup of foam not blended in that I had to dump out to get to the coffee. I think this is how they do things at Starbucks but unless you want dessert instead of coffee and don’t mind having a 99 per cent foam/​milk drink you won’t like this any more than I did. It does partly depend on who’s making them but I threw the cubano away because it was repulsive and was really sorry asking for a macchiato easy on the milk yielded 5 inches of foam. It was sad.

Love their Nutella drinks. Can be slow at times. Nice pastry and lunch food selection. Friendly. Prefer them over nearby Starbucks!

it’s a student run café so expect inconsistent coffee and mismanaged service from time to time.
their lattes are pretty decent if you order small, but they seem to use the same amount of espresso for all sizes, so larger sized lattes will taste like milk with maybe a tiny hint of coffee. ew.

I like coming here because they have sweet, random flavors like Nutella (which is my favorite flavor) and Mexican mocha. The drinks come in a timely manner and there is plenty of seating if you come here to study.
Don’t want coffee? No problem. They have tea and also sell tea by bulk. I haven’t tried them, but they look pretty good. There are also snacks and water that you can purchase near the counter.
I hear that UCSD will be opening a Starbucks on campus in the near future, but I will continue to patronize this place.

I’d stray from their normal brewed and ice coffee unless you like that sour tang. Pretty disappointed with those drinks. However, anything with espresso is pretty good, I’m a fan of the lattes and mochas but they’re nothing past «good».

Nice spot to study and get a good drink. I particularly like their nutella latte! Love that they offer almond milk as an option.

My favorite place to get coffee on campus. Absolutely get the cubano if you want to wake up. Essentially it’s an double shot latte with brown sugar steamed in the milk. I’ve had other drinks here as well, and I think they have the coffee beans that suits my taste buds… not too bitter or too sweet.

Pretty lame. I ordered a café mocha at the register and they didn’t tell me that they didn’t have anymore mocha. I was waiting for my drink and they tell me they don’t have any so I had to choose between nutella or white mocha. I am personally not a big fan of either so I relunctantly chose the nutella one which was ehh.
I’m just peeved that they didn’t tell me they didn’t have any more mocha before selling it to me. Also, they didn’t give me a refund or free drink or anything. Next time they don’t have mocha, I’ll just not get a drink :/​
Hopefully my next experience with Perks will be a lot better.
Just noticed they didn’t even give me whip cream :’(lame.

Favorite place to get coffee on campus, despite being pricey and crowded.
The Nutella latte and Spicy Marya mocha are delicious! They use Chuao Chocolatier’a chocolate powder to make it.
Also has seasonal Italian soda in the summer.

Swing by almost every morning to get coffee. It gets pretty busy in the morning but the workers here are always friendly and work as efficient as possible! The prices here are cheaper than Starbucks and Peets. If you’re not a serious coffee drinker, serious — as in you can tell what country the coffee beans are from by the first sip, then this is a great place to swing by to get your daily dose of caffeine on campus.

Decent coffee if you’re not too picky, emphasis on the «too», and easy going atmosphere with comfortable armchairs. I could taste the powder in my $ 4 Chuao Spicy Maya Chocolate.
My data doesn’t work here, but they have free wifi, «UCSD-​GUEST».
They have social swing dancing on Saturdays 1−3pm.

If you can swing it, don’t go at the top of the hour or 10 minutes before. Students are out in force and need their coffee ASAP — which means the line is out the door, or rather, up to the xerox machines — which is FAR.
And even though I DIE for the Nutella latte, the service can be painfully slow depending on the crowd. Good spot to study if you can grab a table, fast wi-​fi and my go-​to when I’m done drooling over the newly released paperback fiction in the bookstore. Sorry hardcover lovelies, I’m a lady on the budget, but still a RIDE OR DIE book nerd.
Coffee and books, go together better than, well… coffee and books. Keep it coming Perks.

My favorite place to get coffee on campus! Most of the time I am also able to find a table to sit down and study. It’s not too loud, and it’s cozy.
I also love that they have the Secret Cookie Service Cookies there. Cookies n Cream!!! Just go ahead and take my money!

Crowd is nonexistent during summer session! (Almost) Drop by and get yo work done!

In terms of the coffee itself, I would say that Perks is second on campus (after Art of Espresso) in terms of quality espresso. The cubano is great, and sometimes when you order an espresso con panna, they give you an overflowing cup full of whipped cream (as they should, I don’t know why you would order one if not for the mountain of whipped cream). It’s a great study space too, if you can find a table.
But the staff here is absolutely TERRIBLE. From talking loudly about parties where people were dancing on tables and pissing off girlfriends to making slightly condescending comments about customer’s orders «behind our backs» (p.s.- we can still hear you loud and clear behind the espresso machine), I hate having to deal with the staff and no longer come here unless someone really wants to meet here over another coffee place on campus. I’ve heard baristas calling other baristas dumb for not knowing what a cup abbreviation means (could have been jokingly, but either way, not great for customer service), seen them mess up an order for my iced mocha (forgetting the chocolate syrup, noticing at the last second, dumping some milk down the sink, and squirting chocolate syrup on top of an iced drink, not bothering to mix it at all, and then giving it to me that way), and so much more.
One barista in particular who seems to be one of the main offenders of this terrible attitude even tried to tell me that I was the one who ordered wrong after they made an iced drink of mine blended and I asked for it to be remade. I understand her frustration, having worked in a café for three years myself and having to deal with plenty of customers who confuse the two, but when a) I know what I ordered and b) the markings on the cup show that it was iced, not blended, I really don’t see why she felt the need to go out of her way to try and belittle me, a paying customer.
I saw the other day when I was here that they’re training new employees, hopefully a majority of these old employees will be graduating and the new ones can turn this place around.

Perks is the coffee extension from the UCSD Bookstore, and one of many places to grab some coffee or espresso on your way to class.
Now I can’t say whether their drinks are any good in general, but I’ll say a few words or two about their matcha green tea latte (I remember it being around $ 4.50 for a medium)
Upon first glance, the drink looked pretty appetizing! It had a nice shade of a light green, with matcha sprinkled on top.
Now as I tasted the first sips, it had a sweet tinge to it. Definitely loved that part about it. But as the drink progressed, it became stronger, and the green tea taste mixed with what seemed to be huge amounts of matcha made the whole thing not only taste TOO strong for my tastes, but thick at the same time. So sorry Perks, but I would not recommend it to those who prefer tea than coffee.
But I’ll definitely give you guys ONE more chance soon with a different drink.

Their drinks are pretty good but I’m not a fan of newer baristas. I’ve had to ask them to remake my drinks once or twice. It’s a really good atmosphere, especially for studying, and I find myself going more than three times a week.
I usually get the white mochas, but the cubano is also really good.

This is probably my goto studying spot on campus. It’s inbetween all of my classes, even though it’s really inconveniently located, and isn’t full of hipsters or annoying peeps.
Coffee: Probably the best on campus! Well-​made (even though it took a while), delicious, and isn’t as bleak as Roma (not trying to hate, but ehhh). It’s probably a tie between here and the Mandeville coffee cart, but Mandeville is too far away nowadays.
Food: Disappointed, completely. Basically the same sandwiches from the Sunshine Market. I usually just get pastries anyways, but that’s pretty pricey too.
Peeps: Generally, the people there are pretty much older, not as annoying, and I bump into a lot of my friends here.
– It would be nice if there were more socket outlets for peeps. Not that I mind, since I’m usually there for about 3 hours and my lappy can survive, but I feel bad for the ones who search around for an outlet and get all frustrated when they don’t see any. There was this one time I gave up my spot so someone can use the outlet close to me.
– Their bathrooms aren’t bad at all. Never smelly, pretty much clean, and it’s conveniently located down the hall.
– Most of their tables are wobbly. Or actually, their one seater/​two seater tables are wobbly. I’m clumsy too, so having coffee and my laptop on a wobbly table isn’t a good idea.
duh i’ll come back here, if not for the food, just for the coffee and studying space. Anyone care to join me?!