Quick Take:
Location: Downtown Lakeland
What Katie ordered: Caramel Iced Latte, Cinnamon Roll and Banana Bread
Extra Order
(Mike's Order): Iced Coffee with Almond Milk & 2 Sweeteners & a Blueberry Muffin
Final Score: 4/5
Price: ~$10–20 per person
For our fourteenth stop on our Polk Food Quest, we visited Black & Brew Coffee House & Bistro in Downtown Lakeland.
Black & Brew has four locations throughout Lakeland, but for the sake of the "Vibe" section of this review, we'll be discussing the location right in the heart of Downtown Lakeland.
I also want to point out that Black & Brew is not only a coffee shop, but also a "Bistro" (if you couldn't tell from their name); which means they have a full menu to swing in for sandwiches, salads, soups, and even flatbreads.
BUT ... this review is strictly treating them as a coffee shop and NOT ranking their full menu.
That said, Black & Brew has made it onto two of our Best Food In Polk lists covering coffee thus far, so we're talking about some of the best coffee in Polk:
- Second Place: The Best Coffee Shops in Lakeland
- Fourth Place: The Best Coffee Shops in Polk County
By the way: if you're new here, the concept of my Polk Food Quest is simple: every week I try a local spot, order the most common thing people get, try a few extras, and rank it on taste, value, vibes, and overall.
This week: Coffee & Pastries!
Which means we ordered a caramel iced latte, cinnamon roll, banana bread, a blueberry muffin and an iced coffee.
How Does This Work?
I order the standard item for that category (for coffee that means iced coffee and some pastries), plus a few extras so I can get a full feel for the menu.
Then I rank the experience on four things:
Taste | Value | Vibes | 
Overall
Taste focuses on the standard item.
The rest reflects the entire experience.
Taste: 4/5
Black & Brew coffee and pastries were great.
Not amazing, but great!
Before we dive into specifics, though, I do want to share a quick note:
They couldn't make any of their specialty drinks dairy free, so Katie ended up with a caramel iced latte with oat milk, and they only had Stevia (no Sweet N Low or Splenda) so my coffee tasted slightly off.
Here's a quick breakdown for my quick scanners, though:
- Caramel Iced Latte: Katie said it was good, but not amazing. Something she was happy with, but wouldn't go out of her way to go back for.
- Iced Coffee: My iced coffee was fine. I don't think it's hard to carry either Sweet N Low or Splenda, but maybe that's a me thing.
- Cinnamon Roll: This was stale and almost inedible; but we didn't want to push their taste rank down based on just one stale pastry.
- Banana Bread: This was good. Not running back for it, but good.
- Blueberry Muffin: Also good. Right on par with the banana bread.
One stale cinnamon roll doesn't crush the taste here.
The coffee was fine, but we're actually fairly excited to get back and put their full menu to the test sometime soon.
Vibes: 4/5
The vibes at Black & Brew get a solid 4/5.
All of the Black & Brew locations are spotless, great branding and very nice to visit.
Also, in the case of Downtown Lakeland, being right in the heart of Downtown is also a huge perk that is hard to compete with.
That said, we have found their service to be fairly hit or miss, with two of our interactions being fairly poor. We do try to give the baristas the benefit of the doubt, but it is worth noting (especially because it was two different occasions).
Not enough to push them down below 4, similar to the taste.
Solid 4/5 for Vibes at Black & Brew Downtown Lakeland.
Value: 4/5
I don't want to crush the word "fine" into the ground on this review, but that's what we're going with again for value.
For Taste the coffee and pastries (with the exception of the stale cinnamon role) were fine.
The Vibes were solid, but hospitality brought it closer to fine.
And Value, seeing as how it's a culmination of the taste, vibes and overall price for those things, comes in as fine as well.
Reminder: This is specifically for their coffee and pastries. We are not ranking their full menu on this review.
Overall: 4/5
Overall Black & Brew comes in with a 4/5.
There were a couple snags that keep them from getting higher than that in any of the categories, but nothing serious enough to drop them down below.
Would I bring my visiting family there?
With the amount of coffee shops in Polk (and new ones popping up every day); I would likely pass on bringing my family there; but I wouldn't skip it if we were already visiting the Lakeland Library!
Here’s how I’d sum up Black & Brew:
Black & Brew is one of the easiest coffee shops in Polk to recommend, especially if you’re already spending time in Downtown Lakeland.
The space is beautiful, the location is hard to beat, and the coffee and pastries were decent across the board.
Nothing we tried completely blew us away, and the service has been a little inconsistent across our visits, but I still understand why Black & Brew stays near the top of so many local coffee lists.
It’s polished, reliable, and very easy to like.
For this specific Coffee & Pastries test, Black & Brew comes in at a strong 4/5.
I wouldn’t call it the best coffee stop we’ve had so far, but I would absolutely go back, especially to try more of the full menu.
Before You Go....
Hey!
I want to know what you think of Black & Brew.
Leave a comment below.
The more you share, the better, but anything is appreciated.
Each comment helps The Best Of Polk articles and eventually, the yearly awards!
Have a place you want me to try?
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Never Miss An Event Or Story
I have eaten at the one on the park several times. Food and drinks were good but some how I never feel comfortable there. Tried the one on south Florida the other day. It seemed to have a friendlier vibe.