A Quiet Reset at Recess Coffee on Montgomery St.

A ‘Recess Coffee’ mural in the seating area at the shop in the Historic Courier Building in Downtown Syracuse.

On the road, I find myself gravitating towards a good coffee shop. I have always loved sitting down in a warm café with a cortado or cappuccino to get a sense of the ambiance, the people, and the flow of the city. Typically, I dive into some research before every journey to gain a better understanding of the neighborhoods I am in. I have found that reaching out to the community through sites like Reddit has been helpful, and it has been a great option to let the experiences of others guide some of my thought processes along the way.

Other times, I get a rush out of living life without a thorough plan. Fortunately, while going with the flow on my way to lunch, I stumbled upon Recess Coffee on Montgomery St. in the Historic Courier Building in Downtown Syracuse. It was a hot day strolling around town, and the high temperatures were catching up with me. This felt like an opportunistic moment to sit down, hang out, and try a local roast.

The extensive menu board at Recess Coffee features interesting breakfast sandwiches, Paninis, smoothies, and bagels.

A great selection of coffee beans on the shelves along the sidewall of the coffee shop.

Recess Coffee is a casual third-wave coffee shop and roastery in Syracuse, New York, that has been roasting locally since 2007. From what I could tell, the downtown shop on Montgomery St. is inclusive and welcoming, with ample seating and a sizeable menu.

Hanging out in the lounge area was relaxing, and the shop was fresh. The barista had a cool attitude and brewed up a cortado for me before I had a chance to find my seat. Everything felt friendly, and you could sense that some of the locals who frequent the shop are on good terms with the staff, which made for a positive vibe in the space.

The shop’s espresso blend gave a medium roast flavor profile, maybe a little on the darker side, but not as pungent as a dark roast. I tend to favor a medium to medium-light blend, but I felt that their roast was well balanced, which is a characteristic I always find enjoyable. As I sipped my cortado, I took a deep breath and enjoyed the views looking out the large glass windows directly at Syracuse City Hall, a Romanesque Revival built between 1889 and 1893. It was a moment of clarity and a truly relaxing time.

A different view from the seating area into the main area of the coffee shop.