Cafe Zing

I love this place. It’s my go to spot for cold brew in Cambridge (and believe me, I’ve tried most of them) and the price isn’t too bad either. A little less than 3 dollars for a small cold brew, which is actually a pretty decent size. I love how this place is in the bookshop because it’s also one of my favorite spots, as well. And as annoying as the shopping center is you can usually snag a 30 min or less spot on your way to or from work!

A small, local bookstore café that, in spite of being in a strip mall, is really rather charming.
Grab a cold brew (SO good) and browse the books and locally sourced novelties. Wifi is free and good quality for working. I know they have book signings and other events on occasion, so keep an eye out for those if you’re into those types of things.
Outdoor seating just faces into the Porter Square parking lot, but there’s not much they can do to help that!
Good for working, book or gift shopping, reading, or meeting a (singular) friend.

Not much seating, really small.
BUT great espresso, and I ate a turkey sandwich today that they get from Kickstand Café that was delicious! Also loved the green drink.
Iggys bagels too chewy for my taste.
Located in a phenomenal independent bookstore.
Oops almost forgot to mention the Vietnamese fresh rolls (my boyfriend’s dad goes crazy for these when he’s in town.)
Friendly baristas but a little too cool for my taste.

Vietnamese Soft Rolls are spectacular, the perfect balance of light but also filling. Always fresh and tasty. Only complaint is limited seating.

Bookstores need coffee shops. Trident and Porter Square Books seem to be the only local options in the independent bookstore space. I sipped on ginger lemonade during my hour or so browsing PSB’s collection. It resulted in a lovely afternoon.
My only suggested improvement would be that they increase their seats by adding more tables which would enable one to sit across from one’s companion. This is set up would be conducive to better discussions. Again, they don’t seem to have the space. This would be in the nice to have category.

Great people, great coffee. Not sure who they source from, but it’s great «comfort» espresso: not too heady or complex, but still really tasty. Any day I can start here is better for it. Great place to sit at be window with a book and coffee on a rainy day (you can bake in the same spot on sunny days).

I love this little café in Porter Square Books.
Very good chai and the fresh Vietnamese rolls with a thick peanut sauce are to die for.

I’m not sure how I’ve missed Café Zing in my quest to review every place I visit, but I have. I’m here to remedy that now.
Café Zing is great. I stop here for quality espresso drinks. They serve up Equal Exchange for their coffee and espresso, so you know it’s solid. Food is a wonderful representative of local favorites. The spring rolls are a favorite of anyone and everyone who has ever tried them, the peanut sauce is great. The sandwiches are meh, but good in a pinch.
I’ve always had great service here, and would expect nothing but.
It’s generally pretty busy, especially in the colder months. Forget snagging a table and soaking up the free wifi unless you get lucky. In warmer months there is seating outside and you are more likely to get a seat out of doors.
A good solid choice for good espresso and snacks.

I love it here.
This is one of my favorite places to grab a bite to eat and just chill. It’s located inside one of my favorite book stores (Porter Square Books) and has a beautiful café counter. The windows are huge, allowing for lots of light if you want to sit and write for the afternoon.
The coffee is always on point and the bagels (and often the pastries) are really yummy!
Come check em out!

They have the best coffee here! For all the starbucks snobs (I worked there for 6 years), this is better. The baristas are always friendly and will chat with you about any questions or concerns you may have. I read a review saying they don’t accept credit cards, but i have been going here for a while and I normally pay (and tip) on a credit card. They also have $ 1 day old pastries that are cool to scoop up if you want to try a new snack and don’t want to pay full price. Lastly, this place is in a bookstore… it doesn’t really get much cooler.

Great little coffee shop in a book store! Food always very fresh!
Some other coffee shops’ food in Porter square have given me stomach aches. I will not mention those shops with a one or two review. Why give any attention to them at all, adding to their Number of reviews! Heck with that!
At Café Zing the Food is fresh, delicious, beautifully cooked! ALWAYS!!! Family and friends have loved the organic coffee I have served them, all purchased from Café Zing!
Staff is always friendly and quick too.
The book store within is pretty good, although the greeting cards are very expensive.

Sigh, if only ALL local coffee shops were located inside of local book stores. My hipster soul is at rest in this place.
I think Zing is solid. Coffee, yum. Friendly staff, very nice. Scones, so many options! Other food options… I’ve never tried them but it’s nice to know they exist.
Other things to note about Café Zing is that when you purchase a pound (or bag whatever size that is) of coffee they throw in a free drip coffee. Now that’s what I call a goo incentive!

Soooo good. The baristas are all really nice, every latte I’ve ordered has been great (the pumpkin spice latte was a little sweet, but that shouldn’t have been surprising), scones are awesome. My mom tried the spring rolls and loved them.
They request that you use cash for purchases under $ 5.

Paying brusque hipsters $ 6 to make me a coffee drink? Only if I’m already perusing the shelves at PSB and can’t resist my caffeine craving. Also aggravating: if you’re just getting a small snack, they only take cash, and service is on the slow side.

some secrets!
tuesday: $ 1 tea day!
last friday of the month: 10% off (sponsored by
)
oh, and free wi-​fi and hooray for vietnamese fresh rolls!

Tiny space inside Porter Square Books with some of the friendliest baristas ever. It’s hard to find a seat, but nice to wander through the bookstore with your beverage. I LOVE that they carry almond milk… I’m allergic to dairy and soy’s just not that great. Most of their drinks are less sweet than average, so if you like it sweet, ask for more syrup or add know to some sugar or honey yourself. I, personally, like that I can adjust the sweetness of my beverage and am not just hit by sickly-​sweet stickiness at first sip.
Oh, and they take credit cards now, which is a total bonus… I used to carry cash for this place.

I really really wanted to like this place. It’s made of cute and it’s on my way to work so they basically default to 4 stars if they don’t screw up. Sadly, they have a credit card minimum of $ 5 and a coffee and muffin is about $ 4.50, the baristas are sticklers so about half the time I don’t bother trying to spend my money there.
This morning I randomly had cash so I gave it a shot… I got as far as the milk line before a woman who was blocking the bucket for overflow coffee decided to reeducate me about pouring my spare coffee into the cup marked «dirty» instead (apparently that was wrong enough she felt she had to intervene). Y’know, it’s 8am, I want a fast, pleasant experience with minimal impact and interaction with other people, and this place seems to be reliably crowded. Luckily for the woman who clearly wanted her coffee shop her way, I’ll be taking my business to Starbucks.
But like I said, it’s made of cute, if you have cash on hand, you aren’t in a rush and you aren’t bothered by crowded corners, it is awfully convenient. Though if the manager reads these reviews, if you take away just one thing: dude, taco trucks and ice cream carts take credit cards, you are literally turning money away at the door, get Square.

Four words: pumpkin spice soy latte
The service is okay, it’s a tiny space and I hate that people sit there for hours doing homework although it’s cramped and not really a hang out spot. You can expect to spend about $ ⁶⁄₇ on a flavoured latte.

The service is incomprehensibly slow (I usually end up in non-​fiction to get to the end of the line), BUT:
— the chai is great
— so are the morning glory muffins (although way too raisin heavy)
— the staff is irreverently eccentric & usually more interested in bantering with one another than waiting on customers (see aforementioned «service») — for some reason this doesn’t bother me all that much
a good place all around & hope it sticks. good for the ‘hood.

I love any place that lets you add your own
soymilk to your coffee – meaning you can add as much as you want! :-)
It’s also cool that there’s a vegan sandwich!
Relaxed atmosphere inside a bookstore.