Coffee & Treats in Pine Bluff

Sufficient Grounds Cafe’s crew of baristas fills a.m. energy tanks with a menu bursting with delicious morning brews, breakfast and lunch fare, and tasty sweets. Staffers begin each morning by brewing up delicious coffee blends from around the world, as the espresso machine whirs into caffeinated action. Brew-thusiasts start with a base of espresso, mix in milk or soy, and stamp the potation with the dulcet taste of Torani syrups for decadent mochas or the signature Milky Way infused with chocolate and caramel. During the summer, when the days get longer and the southern hemisphere gets a bikini wax, patrons can sit on the open-air patio, surfing the year-round free WiFi while noshing on freshly made breakfast sandwiches, wraps, or pastries. The café boasts two convenient Little Rock locations, but if schedules are tight or legs have low battery power, free delivery is available within downtown.

While most of us sleep, Montego Cafe’s wings marinate overnight in a specially prepared jerk seasoning to perfectly spice tongues during the next day’s feasts. The chefs craft the rest of the café’s authentic and fusion Caribbean dishes with equal patience, sautéing gulf shrimp or white-meat chicken in a signature curry sauce and crowning Angus beef burgers named for Bob Marley with plantains and habanero aioli. Bartenders complement bites with island specialty drinks such as a signature jamaican rum punch made with Malibu coconut rum and Bacardi Superior. When night falls and a new batch of wings starts marinating, the café hosts karaoke nights, DJ sets, and performances by its house band Synergy, whose musicianship outshines that of their rival group, Let’s Try Playing Our Instruments at the Same Time.

The morning maestros at Rosalia's Family Bakery raise the taste buds of Little Rock tongues from overnight slumbers with delicious Brazilian pastries and coffee drinks. Taste muscles swoon over fresh-made baked goods, such as sonhos, donut-like sweet rolls that, like the best waterbeds, are filled with doce de leite, chocolate mousse, and custard ($1.90 each). Dark, aromatic brews, such as the cafezinho ($1.75 for a small; $2.25 for a medium; $3 for a large), pepper palates with the day-brightening notes of roasted beans. In addition to sugary snacks, savory treats, such as quiche muffins ($2.75 each) and croissants ($1.75), peacefully cohabitate in the bakery's prominent glass display among their dinner-spoiling brethren. With today’s second option, customers can satiate saccharine cravings with heavenly made-to-order cakes (a $22 minimum) that can be customized by flavor or resemblance to Oprah’s silhouette.

Armed with just a single, generations-old cookie recipe, Great American Cookies opened its first store in 1977, and the rest is history. Today, the franchise boasts locations in malls across the country and nabbed a coveted spot on Entrepreneur magazine’s 2012 Top 500 Franchises in the baked-goods category. As the shop’s reputation grew, so did its menu as chefs churned out a mouthwatering roster of gourmet-cookie recipes, each created and carefully tested in Atlanta. The tempting options now include snickerdoodle, peanut butter with M&Ms, and chewy pecan supreme, as well as freshly baked fudge and cheesecake brownies, and cookie sandwiches stuffed with frosting. The real show-stoppers, however, are the giant chocolate-chip cookie cakes, which can be customized with sweet, celebratory messages or shopping lists penned in colorful icing.

Fresh Cup spreads out a chilly selection of frozen yogurt flavors and toppings, allowing dessertarians to create tasty masterpieces exactly as their taste buds demand. Patrons start by filling a cup or 11-gallon hat with a frozen treat of their choice from dispensers stocked with such festive flavors as red velvet, fat-free New York cheesecake, cookies ‘n’ cream, and pomegranate raspberry sorbet. Once a creamy foundation has been constructed, decorate your edible work of art with more than 15 additives including sliced fruit, cookie dough pieces, and cheesecake bites before it’s weighed for payment ($0.45/oz.). In order to keep the yogurt carousel spinning in line with the seasons, Fresh Cup stocks different flavors depending on the time of year, posting the changes on its Facebook page regularly.