Story by Milli Thornton. Photos Copyright © Milli Thornton.
MY FIRST MISSION when planning a day trip to Mansfield, Ohio was to find an interesting place to meet my brother for coffee. Good coffee and atmosphere were the big priorities. With my brother being a retired employee of a coffee company, I knew he would agree (at least about the coffee).
Ed was in West Ohio visiting cousins. I live in East Ohio so we needed a half-way place to meet. Voila Mansfield. It was Sunday (which, in small-town Ohio, can mean closed and deserted) and it looked like we’d have to meet at Panera Bread. But why settle for a chain restaurant if there’s something unique you can try instead?
I Googled my dilemma and found Blossoms Cafe in The Blueberry Patch. As the name suggests, Blossoms Cafe is part of a larger business. I wrote a separate story about The Blueberry Patch, which we toured after first satisfying our appetites in the cafe.
Cow-shaped milk jug for the Americanos
Hubby Brian ordered his old faithful, an Americano (espresso diluted with hot water). Ed thought that sounded good so he ordered one too. I ordered my ultimate coffee drink, a breve. (If you’ve never tried one, see Espresso: The Art of the Perfect Breve. But, be warned. They’re addictive!) The breve is espresso with steamed half-and-half so I didn’t need to add cream, but I enjoyed the cow-shaped milk jug that came with the Americanos.
The coffee was good and we enjoyed that while we thought about what to have for lunch. Ed and I decided we’d like some pie after lunch, so we shared a grilled turkey sandwich with red pepper & ground beef soup. Yum! Everything was good.
Grilled turkey sandwich with red pepper & ground beef soup
When it came time to order pie, we were informed that because of a busy week of catering weddings and other events, Blossoms was completely bereft of blueberry pie. No vanilla ice cream left either! Being a doting and generous brother, Ed let me choose so I went for red raspberry pie paired with butter pecan ice cream. This strange-sounding combo actually worked and we didn’t leave a crumb.
It sure felt like Sunday and we were the only cafe patrons, so there wasn’t any “atmosphere” per se. But the interesting surroundings made up for it. Gifts from the gift store and garden goodies from the nursery spill over into the cafe, so Blossoms is an explosion of color and tempting things to buy. It’s also next to The Blueberry Patch Beanery, which wasn’t in operation that day but still fun to check out.
The Beanery: choose coffee beans from 42 flavors
The beans offered by The Beanery come in from all over the world, including Jamaica, Costa Rica and Kona. There are 42 featured flavors, and the flavorings are from Bell Labs in Chicago. Among the most popular flavors are butterscotch cream and blueberry danish.
I used to believe the smell of coffee beans roasting would be delicious . . . but it’s nothing like the smell of coffee brewing. Driving down a certain back street in Taos, New Mexico, the putrid smell of roasting beans could be detected coming from the roastery for The Bean, a traditional coffee hang-out in Taos. Not sure what it would be like to have a roastery right there where you’re eating, but it must work because this place is clearly popular. I’d certainly be willing to try my luck with the aromas to buy a bag of freshly-roasted coffee from The Blueberry Patch Beanery.
The roaster having a quiet day
Blossoms serves a large variety of hot and cold drinks including teas, coffee, lattes, cappuccino, espresso, hot chocolate, ice teas, soda, smoothies, milkshakes, chai, frappuccino, and more. The selection of loose leaf and bagged teas is extensive.
The menu includes daily features such as Thin Sliced Honey Ham on Buttery Croissant with Provolone and Blue Blazes “Jam with a Kick,” Cherried Chicken Salad with Toasted Almonds, and Quiche of the Day.
Here’s how to find Blossoms Cafe in The Blueberry Patch:
Just 2.2 Miles off I-71 at Exit 169
1285 W. Hanley Rd
Mansfield, OH 44904
Phone: 419-884-1797
http://www.theblueberrypatch.org
Hours of Operation for the Blueberry Patch:
Fall/Winter
Mon-Sat 10-6, Sun 11-5
Spring/Summer
(May 1st – Sept 1st)
Mon-Sat 9-7, Sun 11-5
———
Milli Thornton
Milli Thornton (aka Milliver) is the author of Fear of Writing: for writers & closet writers. She is owner of the Fear of Writing Online Course, where her mission is to put the fun back into writing. Milli blogs at the Fear of Writing Blog and coaches writers individually at Writer’s Muse Coaching Service.
Hi Milli,
Coffee, one of my favorite drinks!
I loved kona coffee, when I was in hawaii. The only way I knew how to get the real thing again here on the mainland was The Kona Cafe at The Polynesian in Disney World. The Polynesian is one of the only places that sell real coffee at WDW. Most places sell Nescafe. :-/
This little cafe, looks like the perfect place to enjoy a Sunday afternoon, Your description of it makes me wish we had something like it here in my small town of Pa. A very enjoyable article! Thanks.
Betsy, your town does look very small and when I Googled it for coffee places, there wasn’t much. Have you been into Amato’s on Public Avenue? Maybe if you check out their coffee menu, you might find something you like almost as much as Kona. But it depends what their standards are: if they don’t serve espresso I’d say don’t bother. Any coffeehouse that doesn’t do espresso doesn’t understand good coffee.
The other thing you could do is order some Kona beans online and brew your own at home.
P.S. I’ve never had it myself so I looked up Kona coffee on Wikipedia. Turns out you have expensive tastes. 😀 Check this out:
Only coffee from the Kona Districts can be described as “Kona.” It is one of the most expensive coffees in the world.
Yes, well I do have expensive taste. ( my poor husband…LOL) BUT, I didn’t know it was the most expensive… Go figure.. We’ve only gotten it by the cup. I wont be buying a lb. any time soon. With the cost of reg. coffee right now I cant imagine how much Kona must cost!
That’s just me though.. if there is a rack of clothes to choose from without even looking at the prices. It always seems, I will pull out the most expensive thing! :-/
Its funny you asked about having tried Amatos. This family owns at least three places to eat. Two in Montrose and one in Binghamton NY. The closest city. ( I actually spent my teen years and went to high school in Binghamton NY. That is where I met Mike.)They make great pizza, but not great coffee, and no, no espresso.
Binghamton has a wonderful and large Annual Spiedie Fest & Balloon Rally. Its coming up Aug. 5,6,& 7. We will be going, but we don’t think we will make the Hot Air Balloon Launches, @ 6AM, but we might make the 6PM one. It also depends on the winds and weather if they will launch at all.
Ooo, a balloon rally, goody. They have those in Taos, New Mexico where I used to live, and I did once force myself to get up at dawn in the chill of autumn to do the launch. It was magical being in the air at that hour and with the fall colors unfolding beneath us. However, the 6 PM one definitely sounds more doable.
Wow, this place sounds amazing! And delicious! But I just can’t get past not being able to have Blueberry Pie — when I go I’ll call ahead! 🙂 (and p.s. I’ve never had a breve! I’ll need to try it sometime, usually I have lattes)
Julia, let me know if you ever try a breve. Would love to hear what you think.
The reactions I’ve seen are always OMG!! Gimme more!! Once, a friend of ours who’s the original diehard type (he was in the army and can sleep standing up against a tree as well as eat anything if he has to) came to our house for coffee, where Brian made him a breve on our little espresso machine. Now, this is a guy who thinks Starbucks is named for the football player and he goes in there all gruff saying “Don’t give me any of that foo-foo @%$#.” He will only drink regular brewed coffee from the airpot. But you should have seen his face after he drank his breve. He didn’t know what the heck was going on with Brian’s magic machine, or how to pronounce the drink, but he wanted another one, foo-foo or not.
Brian and I still get a big laugh out of that. And we chalk up another point every time we convert someone to drinking breves. 😀
Wow! What a FUN place to meet up! I love it! I would have wept with no blueberry pie, but I like the way you think, Milli! Nice flavor combination! It’s always nice to find a new place – chains are good….but sometimes ya gotta have something different! Lovely pictures, too!
Thanks, Annie! I’d love to meet *you* at Blossoms Cafe for pie and coffee. 🙂
Big Brother Ed did enjoy my choice of place to meet but, ironically, we also ended up at Panera Bread for afternoon refreshments. I guess you could say we had the best of both worlds.
I’m so impressed with your pictures. They look “atmospheric.” I was surprised when you said the cafe didn’t really have that. Your writing and pics do.
Thanks, j! Except for the bad lighting for the roastery pics, I was very pleased with the set-ups for the others. But this was a totally self-indulgent piece—I just love writing about coffee places—and I presumed it might only be of interest to people Googling places to eat in Mansfield, so I’m thrilled you thought so. I loved your comment! 😀
You are correct, big brother liked the coffee and the meal. Americanos are a big favorite of mine. Since I over imbibed (if that is possible with the drink of gods) on regular coffee and espresso during most of my life, I water down my espresso now. I enjoy the Mambo americano (four shots of espresso, in a large cup, topped with hot water). Being retired means spending a lot of time at Dewey’s in Moline, IL. It is part of our library and a great place to hang out and meet people because the conversations have a way of floating around the room. It encourages everyone to participate.
Edski ~ I know Brian would enjoy drinking a Mambo with you. He sometimes orders one with three shots (not sure whether that one has a name).
Dewey’s sounds wonderful and I wish I could do a story about it for Milliver’s Travels. Coincidentally, I had an experience yesterday that lets me know what it must be like. I went one suburb over from Boardman to take some pics for an upcoming story and discovered that Poland Library with its internal cafe is just like what you’ve described. So there’s a story in the works about that, as well.
Thanks for your comment, Big Bro. My Blossoms Cafe story wouldn’t be compete without it. 🙂