Aroma Cafe

This place is considerably better than Pekara’s by at least 1000%. When you first walk into the door, the smooth and sweet aroma of coffee and bakery treats welcome you in every single way– along with the workers welcoming you as well of course. A must go place for anyone who just wants a place to relax and chill.

I LOVE Aroma. This was the first coffee shop I found when I came to Champaign, and continues to be a go to when I want a great drink and beautiful seat on their back patio. Besides the dark memory of the sexy toast days a few years ago, the people here are always the friendliest and the environment is laid back and inviting. I don’t usually go with coffee here, but it’s solid. The iced teas are always tasty with a perfectly portioned flavor shot.

Stopped in today because it was warm and I was dying for an iced coffee. I ordered an iced latte with vanilla and hazelnut, made with almond milk. Most places seem put out by my «complicated» order, which is really not that complicated, but no issues here. The drink was delicious and hit the spot. My husband ordered an iced vanilla latte and had the same reaction as I did — tasty lattes and wish we lived closer so we could come by more often.

I’ve been here twice and got a ciabatta sandwich both times. You get to pick of side of hashbrowns, apple sauce or fruits. The sandwiches are just as you’d expect them to be — although the egg yolk is a but over cooked, maybe you can ask for it slightly runny. Otherwise, I love this place for a light breakfast, cup of coffee and nice spot to chat, read or finish up work.
Now, they have a café con leche in their menu. Don’t buy it expecting an actual café con leche because this is a foamy cross breed of a latte and a cappuccino. It’s not café con leche. I was disappointed with this specifically but they’re house coffee is generally good, so stick to the standard here.
They have small outdoor tables in the front and a fenced space in the back which are perfect for warm days! They have a really good seating arrangement inside the café too if it’s not so nice outside.

I stood in line for several minutes waiting on two big groups to order. These two kids came in after me. The guy at the counter (who obviously knew the two kids) helped them ahead of me. When they finally helped me, I said «I think I’ll go someplace else. You all just took care of those two who came in after me and I’ve been waiting.» Instead of trying to make it right, the two people at the counter very rudely said «oh sorry.» It’s one thing (completely unacceptable) to let your friends cut in line at a place of business, and something much worse to be rude to the customer who wasn’t helped. I won’t be back.

We went to Aroma on our way through town. It was such an inviting atmosphere as soon as we walked in. The drink menu is very good. My husband order a chai, which was delicious. It was creamy and the spice was just right. I ordered a Carmel latte which was wonderful. The coffee wasn’t overpowering, but it had a great taste.

I was pretty skeptical when I first tried the food here recently. The organization that owns Aroma, also owns the majority of other businesses in downtown Champaign and I’ve never really been a huge fan of the quality of the food at the other establishments. However, I can admit that for the price, the food here is really impressive! I’m not sure how much of it they actually make in house. When I asked about whether they made the cake pops in house, the barista chuckled and said «They’d be twice the price if we did» and then confessed that they buy them through a distributer. Nonetheless, the quality is good. The cake is moist, and the chocolate covering it is rich. I ordered the Chicken Caprese Wrap with a side salad which absolutely blew me away! Lots of great basil flavor and a balsamic vinaigrette seasoning. For the price, this has got to be the best café food downtown.
As for the chai latte? It was good. Its a powder mix and it’s a little on the sweet side. Nothing super impressive but tolerable in the end.

This place is a regular stop when I’m traveling to Champaign. Their bakery items are delicious and the Aroma Salad is fresh and well constructed in both flavor and texture. Coffee is well crafted. Bathrooms are singles, so there is privacy. Outlets are fairly well distributed, so you’ve got likely access to power. There are lots of smaller tables and plenty of patrons eat alone in front of their laptops. You’ll be in good company if you’re looking to hang out awhile, sip good coffee, and grab something delicious to munch.

Aroma is a charming coffee shop. I don’t drink coffee so I can’t judge on that. They have a nice selection of teas. Their yogurt and fruit cups are large and tasty. Not sure where they get their pastries from but I prefer Pekara’s, which is next door. Their lunch is what I find to be the best. They serve large salads, all of which are very good. I really like their Caprese Chicken Wrap as well. I have also tried some of the other wraps which have never disappointed. The atmosphere is what I would want from a coffee shop. The staff currently is a group of people that tend to have very good customer service. The prices are reasonable and the wait is never long.

Amazing good here everything. Having usual 2 shots expresso, pour over readymade coffee w lots honey, smoked salmon wrap, tomato bisque soup. Wow. Live music tonight is nice. Will absolutely return.

Super cute and cozy café. The coffee selection is generic with a few unique additions. The flavor board contain countless tasty favors. The bakery is pretty small, but contains good items. The cakes are pretty good; moist, fresh, and not too sweet.
I tried the cappuccino with the toffee flavor and it was delicious. I could barely taste the espresso and the toffee flavor gave the coffee a very comforting aroma. Definitely coming back for more!

There are lots of coffee spots downtown and I’ll be honest when I say that I like them all. But I find myself at Aroma quite a bit. The coffee is tasty and the patio area is really nice in the warmer months. But in the winter, their soup is my jam, especially the tomato bisque. And unlike some other places in the area, you actually get more than a tiny cup of it so it really warms you up. Oh, and did I mention they can make banana white mochas? Yum.

Nice charming Café in DT Champaign.
Black coffee is good. Not sure about their specialty drinks though, never tried it.
Only knock against Aroma is that my wifi connection wouldn’t work after 2 hrs, but other people’s seem to work.

Love this place! So yummy. Not a lot of space for large groups but it’s a cute café to grab a bite or a yummy drink. I’ve been here twice. First time was while I was waiting for a train back to Chicago. Second time was a quick brunch with some friends. Food was great both times. Their Aroma Salad is so yummy — usually not a fan of those kind of salads (i’m in the basic kind, not fancy with nuts, etc.) but I enjoyed it a lot. Their mugs you get if you’re drinking there are huge. Probably a better deal than a to-​go cup but not sure what the actual measure is. Either way, if I’m ever in the area again, I’ll probably stop here over any of the other cafes.

The atmosphere and food are much, much nicer than Café Kopi’s… but the coffee is not! The coffee menu is limited and the baristas don’t know how to make anything that’s not explicitly on the menu (that’s cool because this should not be expected of them, but it’s just a major downside).
I asked if they made cold brew and they offered me hot espresso on ice. That worries me.
The food is very basic, low-​involvement, no special ingredients, yet pricey.
Also worth mentioning, the WiFi is abhorrent. Connection is too weak in all areas of the restaurant to even display text. And your session expires after a few hours and you are not able to start a second one. Just a heads up for people who want to stay and study. I don’t know if it was a purposeful way to boot campers out. I’ve never had this happen to me at a café.
Finally, the background music is awful, in my opinion. They play nonstop 80s pop: Cyndi Lauper, Michael Jackson, Olivia Newton-​John, etc. So bring headphones if you’re not into that.

I like Aroma. The coffee is nice, the pastries are delicious, the food is fantastic, and the space is big and welcoming. The seats by the window are a really nice touch. The biggest problems I have with this place though is that the baristas are sometimes a little inattentive to customers and the temperature in there is always experiencing problems.
The other problem is that it’s not the best space for collaborative work. I’m happy to go there alone as a nice place to work quietly or read/​have sometime «away» but I rarely go there for when I need more table space.

Aroma is a great place to visit if you’re on campus and need a space to work. There is a public parking deck a few blocks away, so it’s in a convenient location for visitors. The employees are friendly. The food and drink are nothing special, but everything I tried was good. The wifi is free and works well.

By far, my favorite coffee place in town, and the food is always fantastic. My favorite is probably the smoked salmon wrap, but I also really like the grilled cheese with pesto paired with the soups they have.
My husband can be really picky when we’re choosing a place to eat out, but I can almost always get him out to Aroma.

+ Small little college town coffee shop feel
+ Good quality coffee
+ Cake balls… oh my goodness
Aroma Café is exactly the type of small business coffee shop that I love to support. It’s warm and welcoming — cozy enough for setting up a work station for an afternoon, or just for stopping in for a coffee to go. I appreciated the friendly service and the selection of quality brews they had to offer. You just can’t beat iced coffee that is made to order, freshly brewed on the spot rather than being served from a big pitcher of premade refrigerated coffee.
I also had one of the lemon cake balls and oh good grief that was delicious! The center of the cake ball had something similar to a lemon curd, which was a very pleasant tart surprise. I want to come back just to get a few more (okay maybe like a dozen) of these naughty little bites!

On a quick weekend road trip to CU, I wanted a local coffee shop downtown – and Unilocal definitely delivered with all the recommendations for Aroma Café!
This is a cute little shop nestled in the adorable downtown Champaign area, and on a Sunday morning, it was easy to get in and quickly get a drink and some breakfast. It’s mostly street parking, but I found lots of spots right out front.
The lovely lady working welcomed us right away, and she was very helpful with her suggestions. I decided on a large light roast Ethiopian and an oatmeal, and the Mister got a large dark roast of some sort and a cinnamon roll as big as my head.
The ceramic coffee mugs were huge, and the coffee was delicious. They even had organic cane syrup to sweeten it! My oatmeal was pre-​packaged, but it was one of the healthier brands without anything artificial or tons of sugar. The Mister loved his goodies as well.
The interior of Aroma Café is very cozy, but we decided to sit on the patio out back. It felt secret garden-​ish, and it was the perfect setting for a lazy Sunday breakfast.
If you’re in the CU area, then you should totally check out this place. Friendly people, good coffee, and tasty treats… what else could you want?