Coffee & Treats in Boise

Lucy's brews strong cups of organic, fair-trade coffee and a sizable selection of espressos. The espresso con panna, topped with a spoonful of whipped cream, can be dolloped on a chin to form a thick, Marx-esque beard. But latte lovers can forget foam mustaches, because Lucy's take on the milky drink has little or no foam. Caffeine-complementary pastries are abundant at Lucy's, and breakfast items, such as a croissandwich with bacon and cheese ($4.25), make any morning manageable. By lunchtime, Lucy's unveils a host of sandwiches, wraps, and paninis.

Red chairs pop against the classic black-and-white checkered floor tiles at Korner Bistro. The green plants that fleck the interior offer an aesthetic touch similar to the foam art found atop hot espresso drinks. The balance of the elegant yet cozy ambience matches the balance of the menu. Grilled paninis, 6- to 13-inch sandwiches, and an array of pastries complement a full slate of hot and iced café beverages.

Within a shingled Hyde Park cottage, an original soda fountain from the 1930s—complete with silver faucets and a mirror-inlaid bar—has dispensed handmade ice cream since 1984. Today, Goody's Soda Fountain & Candy Stores models its housemade cones after krumkake—Scandinavian waffle cookies—and fills them with rotating flavors of ice cream churned in small batches every day. Cold meets hot with toppings such as housemade hot fudge and bittersweet, which contains twice as much chocolate as traditional hot fudge. Goody's also pulls shots of espresso from a coffee bar and fills glass jars with more than 50 flavors of Jelly Belly jellybeans. The shop celebrates holidays with seasonal treats such as Valentine's Day chocolate assortments, chocolate bunnies for Easter, and portable voting-booth snacks for Election Day.

On hand to help navigate the ever-changing selection is a “helpful staff . . . as sweet as the candy,” according to Boise Weekly. Guests slurp up their sweets amid the chocolate-brown and cream-white antique decor or, in the summer, on a garden patio hedged in by flower boxes.

Sugar Rush Cupcakery's bakers sweeten birthdays, wedding days, and days ending with “day” with cupcakes, cookies, cheesecakes, and gooey cinnamon rolls fresh from the oven. Greeted by a cocoa-colored interior embellished with neon pinks, limes, and purples, mouths can chew mexican-chocolate mini cakes, demolish fluffy peaks of maple buttercream sprinkled with bacon morsels atop maple-cupcake terrain, or try seasonal items such as gourmet brittle and fudge.

At Big Star Coffee, rigorously trained baristas handcraft each cup of coffee to their client’s request, rather than relegating their jobs to automated coffee makers. Drawing on a supply of fair-trade, organic teas and coffee beans, they concoct drinks from simple Americanos to cinnamon- and spice-infused mexican mochas. Alternatively, they blend summery drinks that run the gamut from coffee frappes to Red Bull smoothies, which bolster energy levels and fuel select automobiles. They also stock a glass-fronted case with pastries, wraps, and breakfast sandwiches.