Can you believe there was once a time that I didn’t drink coffee? I grew up in a coffee loving household that LOVED plain black coffee, sometimes with a splash of milk but that was usually doing the most. I hated everything about coffee. The taste, smell, aroma and everything else – I couldn’t find the appeal but granted, I never tried. The extent of my coffee drinks went only to frappuccino’s because I saw them on Myspace once and my local coffee shop in my small town of Forest City (thx, Village Coffee) made them.
Photos taken by: @positivelypri
As i got older, I didn’t drink or think much of frappuccino’s because it was just a phase and again, I was never a coffee lover. Bring on the OG lock down of 2020 and the influx of Starbuck’s barista videos that I see on Tiktok about how frappuccino’s are for children and a plethora of different ways to make coffee. For some reason, I was motivated to try some of the drink recipes I saw online – they all looked jazzed up and way more interesting than plain black coffee. I was also trying not to be coined as a child because I only ordered frappe’s. So this is when, I went through a Starbucks phase (s/o to the iced white mocha with vanilla sweet cream cold foam and caramel drizzle) and even a Dunkin’s phase. I went through MANY drink recipes. As a person who frequents locally owned restaurants, my natural next step was to try locally owned coffee shops.
That’s where Stable Hand comes into the picture. Everything about Stable Hand screams perfection to me. A coffee shop with outlet cords at every seat? Check. A coffee shop with amazing coffee? Check. A coffee shop with amazing food? Check. A coffee shop where the employees love what they do? Check. A coffee shop that also serves beer and natural wine? Check. Check. Check. Stable Hand is where I discovered my love for iced vanilla latte’s with oatmilk. Stable Hand is also ingrained into many of my morning routines, I used to have no morning routine so this is huge to me. It’s a familiar place that hits the mark every time.
What should you order the next time you go to Stable Hand?
- Iced Vanilla Latte with Oat milk in a to-go cup (the cup is key)
- Avocado Toast add Egg
- Savory Rice Porridge add Egg
- Try a seasonal drink out. I LOVED the peppermint mocha latte
I guess this is my love letter to Stablehand. So many coffee shops in Charlotte excel at coffee or just excel at food. It’s rare that there’s one that’s great at both – that’s why I’m so supportive of this shop.
I don’t want to leave out other awesome coffee shops that I visit too in Charlotte when I want a change of scenery:
Tell me about your favorite coffee shop and what makes it special in the comments.Â
Love Stablehand (and their sister-shop, Hex)! But I’m curious why the to-go cup is key for the iced latte?
Good Question! Personally because you can shake all of the ingredients easier in a to-go cup w/ lid, whereas in a normal cup its harder to move the flavors around in the latte. I’m not a fan of Stablehand’s cups because they are long and skinny!