So, folks, what do you do when you go to Hidden Grounds Coffee in New Brunswick, New Jersey?
The only correct, acceptable answer is: YOU KEEP GOING BACK. FOREVER.
(Well, until you move to Vancouver, B.C., that is. Then it's sadly not very cost-effective to keep going back.)
Hidden Grounds captured my heart from the very first Nutella Mocha I had there. Before my first year at Rutgers University, New Brunswick, I'd never had coffee at an independent cafe before; I'd never been at an independent cafe; I never drank coffee. You have read that correctly.
My intense love for coffee and cafes (psh, definitely not addiction!) started with a trip to Hidden Grounds in the spring, where a cozy, wooden set-up with hanging money plants welcomed me. When you walk in, there's a long mirror stretching across the stooled seating area on the left, with single and group tables in the middle, and a stooled seating area along the right with windows and cute, niche coffee books.
Also, when I say "walk in", I mean, you walk down a short flight of stairs, past a big, awesome pride flag, and then you open the door, because Hidden Grounds is truly hidden and it's below ground level! (Of course, let's not forget what a punny name it is.)
(You'll see if you look closely that Hidden Grounds rebranded to become Simply Chai--as far as I know, it then rebranded back to Hidden Grounds!)
And the coffee: STELLAR. Hidden Grounds mochas and cappuccinos sort of set my expectations for every cafe's coffee afterwards REAL HIGH. Absomalutely stunning latte art, too. They also have several sandwich options--the Bombay sandwich a popular one, though a tad bit too spicy for me--that usually come with a side of chips. Rutgers students get a discount (show your ID); not totally sure if they still have it in place. Over the years, their coffee and food menus have expanded, and there are several Hidden Grounds locations now, including the most recent one in Brooklyn!
This is a cafe where some incredible indie tunes play all day long (so hilarious that "Closing Time" would play without fail when it was time to close), baristas are super friendly (shout out to Chelsea, who used to start preparing my Nutella Mocha when I walked though the door, and is one of the best latte art artists ever), and it's open latte-r than most cafes, making it a perfect atmosphere for students to study or hang out and catch up, all of which I did here almost every week during undergrad, usually with my best friend, Urvi.
I really miss hanging out for HOURS ON END with Urvi at HG, our nickname for Hidden Grounds (not to be confused with hg, or Honeygrow, where we also frequented, for delicious lunches). It was at HG where we caught up on each other's lives, spillin' tea, er, coffee. I remember how Urvi used SIX PACKETS (or was it actually three?) of sugar for her cappuccinos, because it wasn't "sweet enough". Or the times when we supported each other--specifically, I will always remember when Urvi cheered me up with Harry Potter-themed gifts, including a compact mirror that I use often (goodbye, phone screen). That was also the first time I tried Bertie Bott's Every Flavor Beans...a vomit-flavored one--and I retched. Of course, Urvi caught this on video. Ever try a vomit-flavored jelly bean at a cafe and have your best friend record your reaction? Bean there and done that.
Anyway, the point here is, it's amazing how formative a certain place like a cafe can be to a person's life. So many of my memories at Rutgers involves HG. In addition to spending time with Urvi there, it was also where I worked on university assignments and read my first ever graphic novel, Gene Luen Yang's American Born Chinese, as well as most of Chimamanda Ngozi Adichie's Americanah, one of my favorite novels. Hidden Grounds is a cafe I will truly never forget, even though I'm hundreds of miles away. Urvi's far away, too, pursuing her PhD like the determined, talented, strong, incredible smarticle woman she is.
Every time I visit NJ, I make sure to stop by at Hidden Grounds, my first ever cafe.
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