Just a five-minute walk off MTSU’s campus, the Chinese coffee chain Cotti Coffee stands proud in its first Tennessee location, providing students with fair-priced drinks, snacks and a place to study.
Originally from China, Cotti Coffee brings forward a more colorful caffeinated experience. One of the primary differentiators is the use of tea and espresso mixes. One beverage, the pampas crema jasmine latte, mixes a jasmine tea with their espresso, creating a strong, textured flavor with flowery hints of green tea. One customer, Vanessa Diaz Garcia, described her mango coconut frappe, being impressed by how good the drink was.
“It’s really good, I won’t even lie,” Garcia said. “It’s something different.”
Another aspect is the use of coconut milk, as opposed to traditional dairy milk. This adds a sweeter experience, pairing down the bitter nature of the coffee without adding much artificial sweetening. The store’s manager, Justin Chen, spoke of the beverages they offer.
“We have an orange Americano, pampas blue; they’re very colorful drinks,” Chen said. “We use a lot of jasmine tea and oolong tea in our drinks as well.”
Outside of beverages, the location also offers a variety of classic snacks. They have more traditional items such as their croissant sandwich, grilled cheese and Portuguese egg bites, but also offer unique seasonal food, like their bing su. Bing su is a kind of ice cream made out of flash-frozen milk, grated into a bowl, Chen said. When dressed up with marshmallows and fresh fruit, it creates a sweet, fruity, snow-like dessert that melts in the mouth.
Cotti Coffee also put a lot of effort into making its shop a study destination. On top of their free wifi, they have multiple seating areas. Marble graphic counters sit on the walls as wooden stools with padded seats and backrests stand beneath them. Calm music, like lo-fi hip hop and jazz ballads, lightly played from a speaker.
“It’s a very welcoming place,” Garcia said, “I would feel comfortable doing my work here and chatting with my friends.”
In the welcoming environment, the staff is helpful and friendly. They were constantly offering suggestions to customers and answering any questions about the menu.
“I can definitely feel the hard work, dedication and love,” Angelique Ortiz, a customer, said. “And it’s really easy to talk to them [the employees], too.”
With the coffee shop being so close to campus, the cost of the items was a concern. In order to keep prices down, Cotti Coffee only offers one size drink and prioritizes word-of-mouth advertising. Constant promotions and discounts can be found throughout the store as well.
“The price is reasonable for how much they put into it,” Ortiz said.
While the shop has plenty to offer, its location has limited parking, lacking designated spaces despite surrounding businesses having their own. Walking from campus is an option, though part of the route is without a sidewalk.
The Murfreesboro location is currently focusing on growing its customer base and testing the waters for more locations. In the future, Chen mentioned that Cotti Coffee would like to expand further into cities, focusing on younger, college-age populations.
“We’re hoping to expand out into the Nashville area, Knoxville and Chattanooga,” Chen said.
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