Coffee & Treats in Palatka

Chef Thomas blends fresh, local produce and spices into colorful, stick-centered concoctions ready to greet taste buds in need of flavorful resuscitation. Achieve brain freeze without embarrassing yourself on Jeopardy by exploring chilly inventions ($3.50) such as the popular pineapple cilantro or an oxymoron-inspired frozen mexican hot-chocolate pop with cocoa, cinnamon, and cayenne pepper. The Banilla Vanana captures pureed bananas in a Madagascar-vanilla embrace, and the refreshing cucumber-lemon-mint pop gives summer heat an elegantly cold shoulder. Chef Thomas flash-freezes his amalgamations in less than 20 minutes, giving the popsicles a smoother, softer texture. These icy indulgences pack a variety of vitamins, making them a far healthier snack alternative to butter on a stick and cheeseburger-ice-cream sandwiches.

The Spice & Tea Exchange treats taste buds and olfactory sensors to a smorgasbord of hand-mixed seasoning blends and gourmet steepables. Freshly bagged daily, custom-concocted blends and rubs, such as the Moroccan blend or the tandoori seasoning, enliven dull dishes with worldly flavors. Massage Butcher's Rub ($4.29–$16.80) into steaks, burgers, and stressed-out cows prior to grilling for extra-zesty grub, or sprinkle it upon vegetables to confuse carnivores into eating greens. More than 170 spices create piquant provisions sure to tantalize taste buds, including beer powder, a nonalcoholic dehydrated version of the popular brew ($4.89–$19.17), or Dutched cocoa, a mellow chocolate suitable for sprucing up warm beverages or supplying and army of microscopic confectioners ($3.89–$15.25). Sprinkle maple syrup granules ($4.29–$16.82) onto ice cream, fruit salad, or other sweet treats to enhance saccharine delights with a hint of nature.

Blenderistas corral fresh fruit and energizing ingredients to craft all-natural smoothies, which get served alongside the sandwiches, salads, and wraps that populate Tropical Smoothie Cafe's menu. Savor a thick, frosty blend of fruits with the Sunrise Sunset ($4.49–$4.99), a mash-up of strawberries, pineapple, mango, and orange that imbues the taste buds with citrusy flavors as sweet as a gingerbread man's pillowcase. The Stress Defender smoothie sprinkles tension-dissolving supplements atop oranges and non-fat yogurt, and the Acai Berry Boost rockets energizing acai, pomegranate, bananas, blueberries, and strawberries up through the straw. Plump sandwiches and substantial wraps wrangle meats, cheeses, and dressings into satisfying lunch and dinner options. Low-fat mozzarella, southwestern rice and corn, and jamaican jerk sauce mingle in the jamaican-jerk-chicken wrap ($6.49), and high-quality ham, turkey, bacon and swiss cheese pile up like moon metaphors in a poetry workshop with each hearty mouthful of the ultimate-club bistro sandwich ($6.79).

Since 1967, Henry and Esther Whetstone, of the aptly named Whetstone Chocolate Factory, have infused bellies with a sweet selection of chocolate confections, from fudge and truffles to decadent bars. Let your cacao-covered dreams become sweet, sweet reality with a 50-minute traipsing through the Whetstone historic facility, which fills hungry minds with saccharine stories and chocolate-based sestinas about Whetstone's past, as well as facts about chocolate manufacturing. The tour also includes a chocolate tasting, a four-tiered affair that mixes and matches flavors of dark chocolate, milk and white chocolate, creams, truffles, and more, all selected for their percentage of cocoa butter, granule fineness, and vocal range. Sweet seekers can learn and taste the subtleties and ingenious customs that define and represent artisan chocolate.

Dreamette has been serving classic dipped cones, milkshakes, and sundaes to its many fans in the Jacksonville community since 1948. Mosey up to the mosey-up window for a classic soft-serve cone dipped in one of several flavors, including chocolate, cotton candy, blue raspberry, and strawberry (starting at $1.70). Or pump some potassium into your electro-light sweet tooth with a banana split (starting at $4.25). A vast assortment of sundaes and milkshakes (starting at $3.15)—including the butterfinger milkshake topped with walnuts and the Blue Hawaiian, a mixture of pineapple, coconut, dancing smurfs, and banana—also takes shape behind the counter.

The friendly staff at MaggieMoo’s Ice Cream and Treatery churns dozens of creamy flavors fresh each day before enhancing frozen creations with inventive mix-ins and toppings. They power through shivers to fold nuts, candy, and fruit into ice-cream varieties such as chocolate banana, and sprinkle sugary toppings over ice-cream pizzas, one of MaggieMoo's signature creations. Aside from other avant-garde dessert offerings—which include ice-cream cupcakes—the staff slings frozen favorites including cones, creamy milkshakes, and ice-cream cakes.

Occasional appearances by Miss Maggie Moo, the business's iconic cow, delight customers. She also lends her services to fundraising efforts for local schools and charities.