Quixotic Coffee (pronounced ‘kwik-sa-tik’) is a community staple for the Highland Park neighborhood in St. Paul, Minnesota. The shop offers lots of seating, excellent brews, and lattes almost as unique as its name.
Quixotic ranks second on my list of favorite coffee shops from the Twin Cities. The cafe is known for its specialty nitro cold brew drinks and I can see why.
I am a hot latte kind of girl, but ended up preferring the cold brew to my regular hot latte.
The Meaning Behind the Name
Quixotic is an adjective that means “foolishly impractical, exceedingly idealistic; unrealistic and, marked by rash, lofty and romantic ideas.”
The cafe’s about page reveals the name is based on a quote from (I’m assuming) the English poet, John Cleveland. The quote concerns the Spanish epic novel by Miguel de Cervantes, Don Quixote. Cleveland quote is, “the Quixotes of this age fight with the windmills of their own heads.”
That probably makes no sense if you’ve never read Don Quixote. Essentially, the quote is saying most of the fear we experience in our day-to-day lives is all in our heads.
Quixotic Coffee strives to create an experience that helps guests forget about the worries of life, real or imagined.
It’s a pretty deep and abstract way to arrive at a name for a cafe. Certainly a unique talking point.
Quixotic Coffee Location
Quixotic Coffee currently operates one location at 769 Cleveland Ave S, St. Paul, MN 55116.
Current hours are 7 am – 5 pm Monday – Sunday. Winter hours vary.
What to Order
First time visiting Quixotic Coffee?
Try the ever-popular Marko Polo from the specialty nitro cold brew menu. The Marko Polo is mixed with half and half, house-made caramel, and house-made vanilla, shaken and stirred over ice.
I ordered this drink after a hike one afternoon. The smoothness, freshness, and quiet flavors exploding in my mouth quite frankly stunned me. This drink is one of my top favorites from the entire trip and I don’t even really order cold drinks. You will not regret this order, no matter your preference.
On my second visit, I ordered a regular latte. While I think adding lavender or vanilla syrup would have been a good move, the simplicity hit the spot and highlighted the brew.
The Coffee
Quixotic sources its coffee from Backstory Coffee Roasters (formerly Bootstrap Coffee Roasters). Bootstrap has roasted coffee in St. Paul since 2014. The roaster has built long-term relationships with producers and importers based on a shared commitment to stewarding the earth responsibly.
Double Ristretto
As far as my two cents on the flavors of the coffee, I found the brew to hold a stronger, more full-bodied taste with a smooth finish compared to others. The coffee was not bitter and really kicked my focus into gear.
This was likely due to Quixotic making their espresso drinks with a double shot of ristretto by default. The amount of water and time of extraction is the main difference between espresso and ristretto.
Ristretto takes half the water compared to a shot of espresso and less time to extract. This results in ristrettos being 0.25 oz. less as a finished product, while espresso ends around 1 oz. Also, Ristrettos have slightly less caffeine than Espresso. A double ristretto, to my understanding, holds more caffeine compared to one shot of espresso.
Specialty Nitro Cold Brew
The nitro cold brew was on a whole other level. The cold brew is extremely smooth, mixed with house-made syrups and shaken like some uppity martini and served over ice. The drink set the bar to a new level of quality, flavor, and smoothness.
The Marco Polo cold brew was 10/10 for me.
Quixotic Coffee Menu
In addition to excellent coffee, Quixotic also offers a host of ready-made eats. Enjoy overnight oats, Chia seed pudding, parfaits, made-to-order smoothies and sandwiches, and even beer and wine.
Breakfast
Sandwiches include bagel breakfast sammies made to order with egg and cheddar, or egg cheddar, and your choice of ham, bacon, or chicken sausage. You can also order a bagel with cream cheese and jam. And of course, there’s the standard avocado toast, but Quixotic serves it with chimichurri sauce and sweet piquanté peppers.
Lunch
For lunch, Quixotic also offers a couple of panini options. Try the chicken panini, the Caprese panini, or a delicious salad option. Or, order your choice of ham or turkey on a french baguette.
Tea
If cold brew and lattes aren’t your thing, check out the Quixotic tea menu, featuring Earl Grey, Chamomile Medly, China Breakfast tea, an more.
Quixotic Coffee – Saint Paul
Quixotic Coffee is shaped like a shotgun-style home, long and narrow. It boasts a clean and simple decor, with a subway tile wall immediately to the right of the entrance. Quixotic Coffee sits engraved in the wall, an excellent photo opp.
The space has polished concrete floors mixed with lots of warm-toned woods throughout to balance the flooring. Tasteful open shelving behind the barista counter topped with Edison bulb fixtures makes the space almost feel familiar. The wood overlaid on the ceiling goes the extra mile to balance the cooler modern accents.
Seating
The seating in Quixotic Coffee is surprisingly plentiful, it’s just not immediately apparent when you first walk in the door. There are three bar height tables to choose from in the foyer. One facing the street, one facing the white subway tile wall, and one facing the barista station.
There are five tables along the first wall when you walk in, followed by three booths that can seat as many as 4 if you get cozy, followed by four tables. Next, at the back of the space, we have 4 two-seater booths. They are tucked along the hallway to the bathroom and opposite one glassed-in meeting area.
The meeting area is up for rent, but it can act as an overflow room when needed. I found this out after 4 hrs. of deep concentration working remotely in one of the busiest sections of the shop. The glassed-in meeting area is shielded from the loud chatter during rush hour and would have been much nicer.
Remote Work
I worked for half a day on a Friday at Quixotic Coffee. The stint proved to be extremely high energy in the morning. I expected the shop to be as quiet as the time I dropped in one afternoon for a cold brew.
I was wrong.
Even though the day was cold and raining, I walked in just after 8:00 a.m. to a packed cafe. The music was pumping, too loud in my opinion. I quickly grabbed one of the only seats left at the front of the shop to set up my little remote office.
The music was eventually turned down an hour or so later, but that mixed with the chatter of morning meetings, and then the flow of people wanting to grab coffee with friends and catch up was a bit much.
As booths slowly became available around 11 am – 12 pm, things had quieted down well enough for me to stay put in my high-traffic area. You may want to arrive close to 7 am if you want a chance at nabbing a good booth in the back of the space during a workday.
Or feel free to use the meeting space if there are no reservations.
Quixotic Coffee Founders
Quixotic first opened in 2010. The original owner Matt Johnson sold the shop in 2014 to Matt McGinn and Jake Nelson who are co-founders of Blackeye Roasting Co. The shop originally emphasized serving pour-over coffee. The menu has since expanded to the food items, coffee, and a healthy list of pastries you see today.
