After a super busy day of adventuring, I was exhausted but so excited that I woke up in Nashville. While my friend Bri slept, I went hunting for coffee with Liz.

We ended up at Frothy Monkey, a coffee shop with a number of locations in Nashville.

At Frothy Monkey, we have developed the recipe for the ideal dining experience: creative folks using quality ingredients to prepare original dishes served in a cozy and approachable atmosphere. Sounds great, right? Let’s be honest though. When you’re hungry, you just want tasty, fresh food, in your neighborhood at your favorite spot that’s, well, honest. It’s easy to be honest about our food. We have personal relationships with the people that grow and produce many of our ingredients and we combine them with our own hands in our own kitchens. And there it is. You have the freshest meals (preservatives always at a minimum) and the peace of mind that you know what you are eating. The best thing is you don’t even have to think about it. So, go ahead and be choosy about what you eat. We’ll create a conscientiously crafted food experience, breakfast through DINNER, every time.

The space has a cool, welcoming vibe with all sorts of seasonal drinks, signature coffee drinks and more.

Immediately, the turtle latte with espresso, steamed milk, housemade caramel, chocolate sauce and frothy monkey pecan syrup caught my eye.

And, I ordered a blueberry muffin, which they make in house! Both were fabulous.

Zazzy'z is the coffee shop connected to The Balkan Bakery in my last post.

Housed in a beautiful home, this coffee shop has a few cozy rooms full of books, art and snacks.

I made my way back to the cafe area to look over the menu.

There were fresh-made muffins, quiche, cookies and more.

Looking over the case, I immediately knew what I wanted: crab quiche.

Have you ever had crab quiche? There was a literal entire layer of real crab. Just so delicious.

And a caramel frappuccino because there's nothing better than a caramel coffee milkshake.

Have you ever been?

While driving through Virginia and searching for something to satisfy my sweet tooth, my friend found the "Balkan Bakery."

What is a Balkan bakery, you ask? That was my question, too.

First of all, the Balkans are a geographic region in southeastern Europe. This region includes the countries of Albania, Bosnia and Herzegovina, Bulgaria, Croatia, Kosovo, Montenegro, North Macedonia, Romania, Serbia, Greece, and Slovenia.

So this bakery features pastries from this region.

That includes things like "burek," "strudla," "kifli," "ekleri," bread and crepes.

The Balkan Bakery is actually housed in the same building as another coffee shop, Zazzy'z.

When we walked in, I first saw the menu, and I was so excited to see lots of items I've never had before.

There was baklava, strudla (streussel), ekleri (eclairs), kilfli (croissants), bombinci (truffles), palacinki (Balkan crepes), and more.


Everything looked amazing.

I ended up trying a spinach and feta burek, which is a filo dough puffed pastry stuffed with savory ingredients.

And, I got a peanut butter balklava - which was easily the best baklava I've ever had. And it was all rolled and syrupy and amazing.

Do you have a favorite Balkan dessert?

I first visited Appalachian Coffee House in Mt. Nebo, and they've since expanded to Summersville and Princeton/

So when passing through Princeton, I had to stop to check it out.

Princeton has changed so much from when I first visited, and I'm loving the new small businesses and public art.

It's really growing with a kombucha shop, cool coffee shop and more.

Appalachian Coffee House has a number of coffee drink specialties. I've tried a few before so I went with a new one this time: "sweet falls" which is mocha crush with a shot of caramel.

They also have a variety of specialties - like honey lavender latte.

And, there are pastries, too!

I went for a cheese bagel with cream cheese.

... And maybe a blueberry scone, too.

Yum!

Have you been to any of the locations yet?

And, if so, what have you tried?

As I continue to try every coffee roaster in the state, I learned of one new one to add to my list: Cherry River Roasting.

Based in Richwood, this coffee roaster has coffee beans in various spots around the state. I got this bag of beans at Appalachian Coffee House in Princeton.

Have you tried it yet?

Oglebay is home to a number of dining facilities, but one that is new to me is Sarita's Coffee Bar.

The coffee bar features coffee drinks, bakery goodies, and other grab & go items. Here's my iced caramel coffee.

There's a coffee shop slash thrift shop in Sissonville called Bargains & Brews.

The entire shop is dedicated to clothes and other goods.

Except the front counter, which makes coffee drinks.

I went for a frozen caramel coffee - because it's me - and took a look around.

Have you been here before?