E. M. Tea Coffee Cup Café

It's tucked away on a quiet side street in Hamlin Park and has been described as a "neighborhood corner cafe of some amorphic past decade", so naturally if you're looking for a relaxed and low-key ambience, E. M. Tea does the trick. The coffee selection is not the widest in the world, but it's reliably delicious, specialty brews are featured from time to time, and the price is more than fair; the more extensive food menu includes breakfast sandwiches on house-baked croissants plus hearty diner-style fare at lunchtime (and don't miss the jerk chicken soup). But E. M. Tea is probably best known as the cradle of Buffalo's tight-knit poetry scene, a tradition carried on at monthly open-mic nights every third Saturday.

• outdoors
• coffee

Address

80 Oakgrove Ave.

Getting there

Metro Bus 8, 26 or 29; Metro Rail: Humboldt-Hospital

Hours

Mon-Wed 7:30AM-6PM, Thu Fri 7:30AM-7PM, Sat 8AM-4PM, Sun 9AM-2PM

Website

emteacoffeecup.com (opens in a new tab)