Ravenheart Coffee

I Found the spot. I have been looking around for a couple of years and I believe I have found the best coffee shop in Elgin. The coffee is amazing especially when Daniel Craig (Kudos) brews it. The place is comfortable, warming, and a great spot to relax and enjoy a good cup of Coffee. The sandwiches they offer are simple but tasty. The Barista's  are welcoming and very friendly. Love the place so much I will be coming back daily.

I had really high hopes for this place. Great location, nice logo...but after trying last night, very disappointed in the coffee. It's not too hard to do coffee better than Starbucks, but this was much worse. I'm thinking it's not fresh roasted, or something went way wrong while making it. I couldn't finish half of it. Suggestion: Get your beans from a place that roasts fresh (Intelligentsia, Metropolis, Conscious Cup), and/or train you employees. Something's wrong with your main ingredient for almost everything you sell. My wife got a hot chocolate and was also let down. Sounds like it was made with water and a couple scoops of instant cocoa--not steamed milk and quality cocoa syrup.

I don't know if this was just because it was a really busy night (Elgin's Zombiefest Night), but they didn't serve with real mugs--just cheap, unbranded styrofoam cups.

Some of the staff was friendly, some a bit rude and frustrated. When I asked for a glass of water I got two waving hands and an exclamation, "What kind of water?! (soundling like a frustrated Napolean Dynamite).

I'd really like the place to be better, thus the long review. I hate to slam the place, but think these are things that could be fixed--and really need to if you want to succeed. The one place you can beat the mega-coffee chains is having fresh beans, and better drinks. Make some killer espresso, and really fancy latte art in real mugs with some inspired recipes. Go visit The Wormhole, or Intelligentsia in Chicago for some ideas of things that are working really well. Work a bit on the ambiance and signage for the menus.

The biggest disappointment is the coffee quality. Fix that first. The only way people are saying they like it if they're getting a drink with only 30% espresso and 70% milk and sugar. I had a boilermaker (just coffee and espresso), to get a sense of the quality. I would have ordered an espresso, but it looked like I'd be served in a tall styrofoam cup, so I passed.

I won't go into details on this one, but get a bigger garbage can with properly sized liners. Serving bad coffee, and having a poor garbage liner that's too small for the can means lots of messes for you to clean up.

Giving two stars because the location is awesome, the logo's cool, and you really could make this place great. But the coffee rating is 0 stars.

Wonderful place to catch up with a friend or colleague.  Hard to beat a comfortable environment, great coffee, and friendly service from a local business.