For my friends and I, as I am sure it means for most UNH students, coffee trips become an essential part of our daily routine. Everyone needs that extra caffeine boost to keep them goin’. When I first came to school I was introduced to the “shack,” also known as “The Coffee Station.” Literally a shack, red and adorable, smack-dab in the middle of a large parking lot is a convenient, drive-up coffee shop that has held merit to the majority of students I know. Not only is it well located, it is just far enough away so one can take a quick drive to clear their head or catch up with their friends. Their coffee is well priced, and brewed fresh daily. There are no artificial syrups in their coffee whatsoever, and the people are friendly and pleasant.
So friendly in fact, that last night right before our weekly chapter meeting, the owner of “The Shack” spontaneously purchased and personally delivered six delicious pizzas from “La Festa” to the Alpha Phi Sorority house. Stunned, and deeply grateful, my friends and I listened as the owner explained that Aroma Joes was running them out of business. Ever since the new Aroma Joes coffee shop was put in place of Ballard’s this past summer, they have been losing many customers because of their location.
This news was so depressing because the “shack” has always been more than a place just to get coffee for us, as I am sure it has been for many. It has been a place of tradition, a hot spot we all look forward to when we wake up in the morning and can’t fathom how we are going to make it through our busy day. Where else can you purchase the perfect cup of coffee, with flavors like “chocolate cream pie” or “pumpkin crème brule” for a reasonable price? Who else would take the time and care to deliver pizzas to some of their most popular customers just to show how friendly they are?
Aroma Joes is a convenient walking distance, but the “shack “has been kept a secret to some, simply because they are unaware of it. Aroma Joe’s coffee is prepared the same way as the Irving gas station just across the street. Just because they give out a red straw and have a fancy label. I hope that by writing this we can inform readers on this issue and promote more business for the “Shack.” Seeing them go would mean saying goodbye to a favorite memory, and true, well-brewed tasty coffee drinks.