Empire Tea & Coffee

Empire Tea and Coffee in Middletown is a comfortable easy spot to slow down and enjoy a simple meal. Service was good from start to finish and made the visit feel relaxed and welcoming. Coffee runs about $7 a cup which is pretty standard these days and the chicken pesto sandwich was $11. The sandwich was good and filling and paired well with the coffee. Nothing over complicated just solid flavors done right. Seating was comfy which made it a nice place to actually sit and enjoy instead of feeling rushed. They also sell bags of coffee and tea which is a nice bonus if you find something you like and want to take it home. Overall Empire Tea and Coffee is a dependable spot with good service decent food and a comfortable atmosphere that works well for a casual stop or a short break.

First time visiting Empire Tea & Coffee’s new Connell Highway location and I loved it. Plenty of parking, super clean, and such a great vibe. Sofia was amazing - even at closing time while cleaning a leaking cooler she offered great recommendations and truly top-notch service. Bonus points for the gorgeous window art, which she did herself. Can’t wait to come back!

Very quick and easy spot for a great coffee and breakfast sandwich. Plenty of parking and seating inside. I liked the vibes here - there were people sitting in booths working on their laptops, people meeting up for business meetings, and some people just casually hanging out. One of the few coffee spots around here that does a good Cortado.

The service is great but everything I get here is kind of awful. I keep trying hoping it will be better. The espresso drinks are extremely weak, feels like their machine is uncalibrated. Every drink here ends up tasting like a cup of milk, no espresso or flavor. Also, they have subbed different alt milks in multiple times, ex: oat for almond, without saying anything. The food is also questionable, bagels are barely toasted and the sausage sandwich tastes like desert with the insane amount of fig jam they added. I’m going to keep going because it’s a convenient location but I haven’t had a single good thing here yet. Update: asked for extra toasted, wasn’t even toasted. Asked for avocado (extra $2.25) and it was brown. Asked for LIGHT mayo and my bagel was drowning.

I never leave reviews, but I feel so compelled because the matcha at this place is insanely perfect. They have never had an off day when I’ve ordered it. These people are so insanely locked in — never clumpy, never bitter, always the perfect ratio of matcha to milk and vanilla. I literally cannot stress enough how reliable and good this matcha is.