Coffee Shop Saturdays: The Dancing Goats Coffee Bar, Ponce City Market, Atlanta, GA

Mar 17

When you arrive at Dancing Goats Coffee Bar at the Ponce City Market in Atlanta, there's a sense of being someplace special.

Last weekend we picked up the girl from ATL (Spring break!) and hung around to attend Atlanta United FC's home opener.

As with all trips away from Greenville, coffee shops are a part of the process - and The Dancing Goats Coffee Bar in Ponce City Market was en route to the stadium. This place was brimming with caffeinated potential. (Our hotel coffee was terrible and, as always. we try to avoid corporate mermaid logo shops.)

We knew we were in the right place as we walked up to the Dancing Goats Coffee Bar. They sport an impressive, dog-friendly, outside patio with comfortable seating. We didn't bring our dogs (dogs are frowned upon in Mercedes Benz Stadium, and not sure they would have liked the noise), but my fam is fond of petting the dogs of strangers. This patio pleased them.

We ordered an assortment of drinks, and a couple of pastries.

Both the indoor and outdoor space was hopping with meeting friends, families, and a few business meetings. In the midst of the hubbub, I attempted to figure out where Dancing Goats gets their coffee.

Cups at the Dancing Goat are branded "Batdorf and Bronson." While sounding like a fancy china pattern - it's the name of the roasters who run three shops in Atlanta and an additional five sister shops, located Olympia, WA.

Based on their website, it seems a couple's passion for great coffee began with a shop in Washington, and culminated in them taking over a specialty coffee roaster and expanding. They now roast and sell coffee in their two current locations.

The single origin pour over

This is my litmus test for good coffee. On this particular Saturday morning, they had two options available - one from Costa Rica and another from Ethiopia. I tend to prefer Central American coffees, so order the Costa Rican.

I was not disappointed. It was velvety smooth and had a caramelly flavor. The cupping notes on the website mention maple syrup and orange juice - and while my palate was not sensitive enough to get quite that granular, there is a natural sweetness to this coffee. I thoroughly enjoyed this, while seated on the patio, reunited with my family of four (sadly, my lovely daughter-in-law was down for the count with the flu and wasn't able to join us).

The lattes and the iced mochas they ordered were apparently good, as well.

After finishing off my coffee, I decided this place was worth a second cup of coffee. I'm going for the Ethiopian.

This was an unusual move for me, as I typically find a lot of African Coffees to be either too fruity, or worse, floral, for my tastes.

Ponce City Market is a fun place to hang out.

YOLO, as the kids said in 2008.

I ordered the single origin Ethiopian and took some photos while I waited.

While I probably preferred the Costa Rican coffee, the Ethiopian did not disappoint - and it was a most interesting cup of coffee.

With the first sip, I detected distinct blueberry. There was a complexity to this coffee suitable for the land from which the coffee legend originated.

When checking out the official cupping notes on the Batdorf and Bronson website, they mention frankincense and rosemary. Again, my palate is not that refined. And haven't a clue what frankincense tastes like. Blueberry was evident for me, and I did enjoy this cup of coffee with intricately woven flavors - whatever they were. It was fun to taste the differences.

You can order these coffees online. I recommend you try both of these - and I'm tempted to try a few others. Guatemalan coffee is my go-to, so look forward to trying this one, at some point.

The baristas at the Dancing Goat were friendly and well-versed in their craft - answering my (probably annoying) questions with both a smile and knowledge.

We wandered around the Ponce City Market for a time afterwards. The Dancing Goats is in an interesting location, and worth checking out next time you're in the ATL.