Coffee & Treats in Towson

Bury your sweet teeth in personal-sized treats, courtesy of your own kitchen and the award-winning chocolate truffle cupcake recipe and designing implements of the Baltimore Cupcake Company. Each towering confectionary kit is available in seven themed designs: birthday (boy or girl), holiday/Christmas, baby shower (girl or boy), bridal shower, New Year's, Valentine's Day, and Thanksgiving, or opt to use this Groupon's value for $175 toward your own custom theme.

While no one will tell you that ice cream is a healthy alternative to spinach, not all ice creams are created equally. Each of Moorenko's rich ice creams is made fresh by hand without the use of chemical stabilizers or emulsifiers. The cows that supply Moorenko's dairy are organically raised and grass-fed, making the final product a good source of omega-3s, the unsaturated fatty acids that are believed to contribute to heart-health. Finally, each scoop is briefly wished upon, guaranteeing that you will be quite literally eating someone's hopes and/or dreams.

Beyond the warm, neighborhood atmosphere, Java Shack's many varieties of java, brewed from local Virginia roasts, have a much richer flavor than the corporate brews, as proven by favorite drinks like the Java Shack House Blend coffee ($1.90 for a medium) and classics like the creamy latte ($3.50, medium), rich espresso ($2.20, medium), cappuccino ($3.50, medium), and café mocha ($3.95, medium). You'll have no trouble learning your personable barista's name if you order a specialty Java Shack creation such as the Dale Special, an iced Americano with dashes of vanilla, caramel, and half-and-half. Java Shack’s many regulars also regularly gulp the Korinator, a latte with a bit of vanilla and caramel, and Java the Nut, a latte with hazelnut, vanilla, a drizzle of caramel, and several intergalactic bounty hunters in its employ. While the drink titles will help you learn their names, Java Shack employees rely solely upon their own social natures, and perhaps some light Facebook stalking, to learn yours. Baristas make the effort to remember not only customers’ names, but also favorite drinks and even backstories if you’re up for sharing without over-sharing.

A coffee shop is a great place to get work done without being actively social but still feeling completely social. Use today's Groupon to be productive in the comfort of the crowd instead of alone at home. For $10, you get $20 toward anything edible and drinkable (does not include intangibly consumable events) at Peace & A Cup of Joe. You can snag up to three Groupons, which will be converted into gift cards the first time you head into the quaint, independent shop. These will act just as regular gift cards act, with composure and class. Groupons are also good toward daily specials.

Bundles of Cookies' kitchen churns out handcrafted cookie arrangements gussied up for any occasion, be it a birth ($4.34–$78.95), anniversary ($26.45–$57.95), housewarming ($43.50–$61.45), or back-to-school ($26.45–$64.95) extravaganza for a grandmother, the life-drawing model. Pick up a pan-sized sweet ($14.95–$38.95) for an opportunity to wear a "sharing is caring" bib. Basic iced rounds ($21/dozen) are made with the same careful devotion that Bundles of Cookies' sweet-savvy staff put into their dressed-up cookies but produce less decoration-destructing guilt during consumption. The signature almond sugar cookies are hand-rolled, cut, and carefully iced one at a time.

Having made their name in local farmer's markets and risen through the ranks of brutal, no-holds-brewed, local coffee kumites, Fresh Off the Roast's roasts run the gamut from light to dark. They source beans from around the world, recently featuring coffees from Ethiopia, Kenya, Indonesia, Honduras, Peru, and more. Fresh Off the Roast has helpfully provided brewing tips and techniques for getting the most out of your roast.