Blackbird Espresso Bar & Bistro

Yummy sandwiches and coffees. Good place to sit and study for awhile.

BBE&BB is a decent coffee shop/​café located in a busy retail plaza in Topeka, offering a reasonable selection of excellent coffee beverages, a small bar and a small breakfast and lunch menu notable for local sourcing and relatively healthy options. My go to option for java in Topeka.

What What a treat! Very health conscious. Cheese made from local farm, from raw milk. Amazing coffee and great soy milk!

My favorite place in Topeka. Great coffee, real food, chill people.

Ignore the siren song of the S****ucks and enjoy this oasis of wonderfulness. That is all.

A vacation from your ordinary life. If you don’t see it on the menu, ask. They have customized for me a couple of times. Always cheerful and helpful. Good food!

I’m in Topeka about once a month, and Blackbird is in my regular rotation of dinner places.
The coffee here is seriously good. I had one of the best cappuccinos I’ve ever had here. They have all of the usual espresso drinks, plus frozen and blended ones, plus fruit smoothies (although I don’t think they’re made with fresh ingredients– I spotted one of those ‘Jet Tea’ canisters in their fridge,) and a great selection of bagged tea. They serve Harney and Sons Tea, which I’m a big fan of. The cinnamon flavor is amaaaazing.
The menu is small, but everything I’ve tried has been wonderful. Last time I was in they had an African soup, with sweet potatoes and black eyed peas. It was excellent. Twice now I’ve gotten the cheese & tomato panini, ordered without the cream cheese that’s listed on the menu, and it is dynamite. And big! Definitely enough for 2 people to split. You get your choice of side item with a panini, and I chose fresh fruit. You know how most places put 2 chunks of pineapple, a strawberry and maybe a smidge of melon in a bowl and call it a ‘side of fruit’? Not Blackbird. My bowl was absolutely heaped up with dozens of fresh, delicious red seedless grapes. Such a nice treat.
Their pastry case is small, it appeared to be mostly cookies inside, but everything looked delicious. This would be a great spot to stop at for a snack.
The staff are young, probably Washburn University students I’m assuming, but very nice and helpful.
The restaurant, and especially the bathroom, could be a bit fresher and brighter, a new coat of paint would help, but this is a very small complaint. Parking is easy, and there’s a decent sized patio outside, although apparently smoking is allowed out there, so I stayed inside.
Like many indie coffee places, there is local art displayed on the walls, available for purchase. Always nice to see.

Blackbird has some of the best coffee and staff in Topeka. My fave is definitely the quiche on the weekends, and it’s made by the hottest barista around. The co-​owners, husband and wife, make an excellent team. The craft beer on tap is handpicked by the husband and much of the food and baked goods are handmade by the wife. watch her make a cake some day. It’s pure magic. And it’s all delicious.
I definitely miss this gem now that I live somewhere where it’s difficult to find a decent cup of coffee and good service to go with it.

Aside from the fact that half of the staff is snooty, I really do like the coffee here. The prices may be a little steep but if you genuinely need your espresso kick, this is the place to go.
I love their white mocha espresso as well as their caramel latte!