Rise and shine! Try out these new coffee shops.

Get your caffeine fix— and more

Note:

The Express-News is suspending traditional restaurant reviews until restaurant dining rooms fully reopen.

This is your wakeup call: In the middle of the pandemic, at least seven new coffee shops have opened in San Antonio.

The surge makes sense, really. The pandemic turned sleepless nights into a commodity. And if you can’t sleep, you lean into it and make that restless energy count.

Answer the wakeup call at Black Rifle Coffee Co., Coffee Me Crazy, Eleven O Two, Extra Fine, Jolt Coffee and Beverage, Folklores Coffee House and Rodkeys.

Black Rifle Coffee Co.

Military City, USA, is the right place and the right time for Black Rifle Coffee Co., a Salt Lake City-based franchise owned and operated by military veterans. After making its Texas debut in Boerne last year, Black Rifle expanded to West Bitters in August, bringing with it apparel and merch celebrating military heritage and coffees with labels like mission codes: Silencer Smooth, Gunship, Berzerker Blend and 16 more.

Highlights from the coffee menu include a sweet horchata latte with a vanilla boost, a chai latte with eye-opening spice and, of course, an espresso that’s tough, bitter and ready for action.

180 W. Bitters Road, 210-963-9660, more locations at blackriflecoffee.com. Open 5 a.m. to 10 p.m. Sundays through Thursdays, 5 a.m. to 11 p.m. Fridays and Saturdays. Dine-in and drivethru available.

Coffee Me Crazy

James and Natalie Cochran opened Coffee Me Crazy on the bleeding edge of the first big shutdown in March. They moved all the furniture aside and converted to carryout-only.

But they’ve hung on, roasting their own coffee, pressing

panini sandwiches, baking their own giant cinnamon rolls and softball-size whoopie pies and adapting to coffee house life in to-go cups.

That’s too bad, because if ever a coffee deserved its own big ceramic cup, it’s a peanut butter cup latte that drinks like a molten Reese’s, one of eight specialty lattes from a menu that includes a silky coconut cream creation fortified with white chocolate and vanilla. Or just go with a smooth black pour-over or a bracing strawberry lemonade.

7715 Tezel Road, 726-9992637, coffeemecrazy.org. Open 6 a.m. to 5 p.m. Monday to Friday; 8 a.m. to 2 p.m. Saturday to Sunday. Takeout and third-party delivery available.

Eleven O Two

Combine the charm of a country store, the freshness of a flower shop and the stylish elan of a wine bar, and you get a sense of Eleven O Two, tucked into a stone building with shaded courtyards and porches on South Alamo Street. 1102 South Alamo, to be precise.

The coffee bar is all the way in back, where it

brews a short menu of drinks made from Colombian coffee roasted locally by Coffeecionado. I kept it simple, going for straight espresso, foamy macchiato, a dense latte and an easy-drinking cold brew. All good, all true to form, they opened the way for fancier excursions into cookies, muffins and milehigh cakes made by Sweet Cheeks Bake Shop in San Antonio.

1102 S. Alamo St., 210-3145958, elevenotwo.com. Open 7 a.m. to 11:02 p.m. daily. Dine-in and takeout available.

Extra Fine

Taking over a Monte Vista building that’s seen a few restaurants open and close in a short time, Extra Fine brought with it the expertise of Hot Joy and Barbaro veterans Jess and John Philpot. It’s spare and stylish, attracting a parking lot full of nice cars and the people who drive them.

Along with an excellent big-foam cappuccino and a perfect espresso made with Brown Coffee Co. beans, Extra Fine draws on Jess Philpot’s baking skills for a fresh chocolate-sesame babka muffin and the magical Philpot Cake, a

layered sculpture of banana cake, chocolate ganache, foie gras mousse and peanut butter gelee that tastes as good as it looks.

The kitchen turns out one of the city’s best quiches, and you owe yourself the turmeric sunrise in a cup called golden milk.

138 E. Mistletoe Ave., 210-701-8483, extrafinesa.com. Open 8 a.m. to 3 p.m. daily. Dinein, curbside and third-party delivery available.

Folklores East

The pandemic brought out the best in Folklores owners Tatu and Emilie Herrera, who used their original Folklores Coffee House on the South Side as the staging ground for feeding thousands of lowincome seniors. Since then, they’ve closed that shop (with plans to relocate) and opened another Folklores in the Government Hill neighborhood.

Aside from switching to paper cups for better pandemic hygiene, Folklores hasn’t lost a step. They’re as big and bad as ever, in a good way, with over-thetop lattes like the Sheena (banana milk, espresso

and caramel), the Cereal Milk Latte that’s like liquefied Lucky Charms and the cold Vato Rudo, packing horchata, cold brew coffee and cajeta.

But the showstopper, as always, is the Siouxsie. Even in a paper cup, hot chocolate with an espresso boost and a crown of flame-toasted marshmallows is a sight to behold.

1526 E. Grayson St., 210-364-9396, folklorescoffeehouse.com. Open 8 a.m. to 3 p.m. daily. Dine-in and takeout available.

Jolt Coffee and Beverage

Kim and Cary Scholer expanded on the appeal of their New Braunfels drivethru coffee shop with another one in Universal City this summer. Flanked by two of those wavy-arm blow-up things (the technical term), Jolt is simply a box with drive-thru windows on two sides to get you coming and going. But the menu is anything but simple, with iced and hot specialties, coffees, shakes, smoothies and energy drinks with a long list of add-on flavors.

The signature drink, the Jolt, is a smooth and sweet blend of milk and espresso, best served cold. Accelerate the buzz with a hot Sticky Mocha, which adds caramel and chocolate to the mix. Or go with a wellmade Americano, a tall cup of espresso mellowed out with just the right amount of hot water.

I also liked a cold blueberry-pomegranate smoothie, but the morning’s most intriguing cup came from the Aura, an energy drink the barista called a “homemade Red Bull,” which comes in any flavor you like from a bank of syrups. Make mine a Lady Marmalade, like a sunrise orange eye-opener.

850 Pat Booker Road, Universal City, jolt-austin.com. Open 5 a.m. to 7 p.m. Monday to Saturday; 7 a.m. to 7 p.m. Sunday. Drive-thru only.

Rodkeys

The bracing electricity of caffeine combined with the mellow come-down of CBD. What could possibly go wrong? Nothing.

Rodkeys takes an almost pharmaceutical approach to cannabidiol, the perfectly legal cannabis extract that’s like coffee’s sidekick in a buddy-cop comedy. The shop’s laid out like a boutique drug store with CBD products: eye-dropper bottles, lotions, chewables, coffee beans, even dog treats.

In the back, a coffee bar offers a full line of wellmade and reasonably priced coffee drinks, teas and smoothies, with the option of adding CBD a dose at a time for a dollar. Every drink came across just like one you’d get at a mainstream shop: a strong cup of straight black coffee, a tart Crimson Berry iced tea, a velvety sweet iced caramel latte and a thick mango smoothie.

I added from one to five doses of CBD and sat back. The effect was like electricity: wired and grounded at the same time.

9630 Huebner Road, Suite 101, 210-314-7723, rodkeys.com. Also at 2602 N. Loop 1604 W., Suite 109, 210-314-5043 . Open 7 a.m. to 6 p.m. daily. Dine-in, curbside and third-party delivery available.

Photos by Mike Sutter / Staff Coffee Me Crazy offers house-baked cinnamon rolls, whoopie pies and granola bars, along with drinks that include iced chai late and strawberry lemonade.

Eleven O Two offers cookies, muffins and coffee drinks that include, clockwise from bottom left, macchiato, latte, cold brew and espresso.

Extra Fine offers specialty drinks including espresso, bottom left, cappuccino and turmeric-spiced golden milk.

Black Rifle Coffee Co. on Bitters Road offers iced horchata latte, front, cappuccino, left, and chai latte.

Jolt Coffee and Beverage on Pat Booker Road offers specialty drinks like this iced Jolt coffee with milk and espresso.

Folklores offers drinks like this Vato Rudo Latte, with horchata, cold brew, cajeta and whipped cream.

Rodkeys offers drinks that include brewed coffee, Crimson Berry tea, a mango smoothie and a caramel latte.