Caffe Tazza

Coffee was good, but when they scooped my ice cream (2 scoops for $ 4.50) from a Breyer’s ice cream container just like I can buy at Albertson’s, the whole experience was immediately ruined. This could be a really cool, hip place if they tried even a little.

I read a book once about a guy who opened a coffee shop in a trendy part of Manhattan. He failed to make a profit on coffee alone and started selling «artisanal» sandwiches, which he admitted was nothing more than cheap deli meats and «fancy» grocery store cheeses, and charged an astronomical fee for said sandwiches to the unkowning tourist.
This about sums up my experience at Tazza.
It.kind of felt like a grandmother was serving me a sandwich, with the handful of stale chips and little pickle on the side.
Might be ok for coffee or ice cream, but skip lunch. It probably serves me right for trying to eat at a place that does not even list food on their logo (I think it said «coffee, tea, ice cream».)
The staff was really nice, though.

Meh.
Hairy arm pits from a woman giving my ice cream are never a plus. Any how, the ice cream did taste good but was nonetheless store bought from down the road with an added sprinkle of crackhoe.

Well… It felt authentic to the area… A bit bedraggled… Hard metal folding chairs outside in weed choked courtyard, but lovely shade.

Environment sells this place as it is outside the norm and drinks as well as ice cream are not mind blowing but worth a stop if in need.

We stayed across the street at the Casa Benevides. Each morning I would cross the street to get my wife a «mocha» and a «kick in the ass» double shot coffee. We love our morning coffee and Café Tazza brews the best. Enough said!

My wife and I stopped in to get a snack, and had berry smoothies, chips and a cookie. The barista was friendly and informative, as my wife has many allergies.
When I started to pay with my credit card, she told me they only take cash or check. I was willing to find an ATM, but she just started a tab for me, and told me to stop by later to pay. How kind!
The smoothies were fresh and the cookie was a lemon snickerdoodle. Really great.

Coffee was fine but the cream and sugar area was organized like the rest of the place. The place has possibility but it’s not being used. And while they offer breakfast sandwiched they make then to order with nothing prepped so it takes forever.

The tall, kinda gaunt dude that was catching a smoke break on the front sidewalk stubbed out the butt and popped in the door when he saw us coming. I guessed he was used to this sort of thing, tourists meandering around with their cell phones out, navigating his biz address via Unilocal app, a three year-​old in tow anxious for sweets. He saw us coming and he had to man the register.
Strange, then, that when we actually entered the place he didn’t even acknowledge we’d walked in. Almost anti-​interested, he fiddled with something behind the barista bar and waited for… what, exactly? For us to decide we didn’t want to stay? «Excuse me,» I finally asked him, «I’m wondering if we can have some ice cream?» And he bumbled around a little before going around to open his little mini-​freezer.
«Not sure if we have what’s on the board, let me look,» he told me. The board had about eight flavors listed. The dude started pulling out grocery store bins of ice cream, you know, like the kind you can buy at a grocery store, and I thought Dude, that’s one ghetto way of selling ice cream, in fact I’m curious as to whether it’s even legal.
Our cups of grocery store ice cream were gently delivered to me by hands soaked in nicotine. Big note here: when fiddling behind the barista bar awaiting the Apocalypse, wash your hands, man.
We never tried the coffee so this isn’t a very wholesome review. The interior is quite lovely, the back patio is a delightful area to rest, and the (sole) bathroom is rather spectacular.

Ice cream was good but expensive. Coffee had been sitting around for a while. Indoor and outdoor seating — a group of women (church group?) was meeting outside at a table. Parking behind building (street parking is scarce).

In search of a good café and a music venue the Café Tazza was attractive because tonights act was previewed at the Adobe Bar on open mic night.
I’m here for the music (Too Loud) and the coffee (as expected). If I were a regular I think I might enjoy the venue a bit more. I always give a place 2 chances. Maybe this is an off night but not that great.

Yucky Iced Tea. Old? A Mix? I don’t lknow.
It was hot out, ordered two iced teas, they were terrible. I asked if they were made a while back because they tasted old, she was rude, and just said No, tea was made today. Hmmm. I think she could have handled that differently.
Plus no lemons? Weird. Wouldn’t go back.
And be prepared to pay for parking. They don’t give change. Ridiculous.

My only trip to Tazza featured very mediocre espresso made by the nicest man in Taos. I wish the coffee had been better, because I really dug the warm, friendly vibe.

every town has that place that is welcoming and laid back and full of interesting people. that would be café tazza. my compliments to the best coffee house vibe in taos.

This review reflects a visit I made to the Caffe Tazza in 1985. It might just be a bit dated. For one thing, I’m not sure that they are even in the same place. I spent a week in Taos, and spent a fair amount of that in the Tazza. There were poetry/​fiction readings, one-​woman performance pieces and other performances. I had my first Torani Soda there. I decided to become a writer while there. Larry, the owner, was a transplant from North Beach, and he added a North Beach style to the place, which made me feel right at home. For one brief period of life I spent many happy hours there in the midst of summer rain storms and cloud-​shaped sun beams under the Sangre De Cristo Mountains, looking at adobe walls, I can’t tell you what they serve anymore (a decent cappucino and torani sodas are all I remember). But for some reason, I felt more connected to the earth and more alive with possibilities in the Tazza than almost anywhere else on earth. Your mileage may vary, but go have a coffee if you are in town.

The coffee was excellent. My husband made me go back to get another espresso.
There is a room on the side and a patio, that is very cool too. They also sell some ice cream (made with Taos cow milk??).
The customers are mostly from the town and know each other. Asking what’s new and how are things going. It’s just so nice and relaxing, i don’t even know how to explain.
Note: just cash for payment.