Whisk & Arrow
More than likely, you’ve heard of Whisk & Arrow and know them as one of the premier bakeries in the area. If you aren’t familiar, they feature macarons, cakes, and cookies, among many other things. Too many to list in fact, all made from scratch. I especially love when they have fruit tarts on the menu. On my most recent visit, they even had a Guava and cheese croissant! This isn’t some random, run of the mill bakery, that’s for sure. They know what they are doing. However, we aren’t here to talk about the bakery. We are here to talk about coffee and guess what? They also know what they are doing in that department.
It’s not all that uncommon for a bakery to offer coffee almost as an afterthought. Just something to have on hand just in case someone wants something with their pastry. That is not the case at Whisk & Arrow. The coffee team of Alec, Christopher, Tavia, and Lily put just as much thought and effort into the coffee lineup as the bakery team puts into the baked goods. Every single syrup or sauce they offer is made in house, from scratch, by the team.
A perfect example of the difference this makes is their Hazelnut Praline Cold Brew. Every shop offers a hazelnut syrup, but very few make that syrup themselves. At Whisk & Arrow they roast actual hazelnuts, candy them, then grind them down and use that in the sauce. This sauce is mixed with their cold brew and then topped with a lovely cold foam. You can really taste the difference between this and a mass produced syrup. It actually tastes like hazelnuts, not hazelnut syrup.
Another popular drink I tried was not even a coffee drink (crazy, I know), but it was handcrafted and delicious. The Strawberry Mint lemonade is made with muddled mint leaves, macerated strawberries, and a house made lemonade. If you’ve been paying attention, you might recall that I am no fan of mint, but once again, hats off to fresh ingredients and well thought out flavors. This lemonade is fresh, slightly sweet, and tart like a lemonade should be. The tartness from the house made lemonade, sweetness from the macerated strawberries, and the coolness of the mint were all really well balanced and worked to create a depth I’m not used to in a lemonade.
Okay, now back to coffee, but don’t put that lemonade away quite yet. The Mazagran is next up. This drink has been around since the 1800s, but isn’t often found on menus in the Midwest. I first had a version of this drink many years ago in a meeting, at a coffee shop, and it was made by Alec. The same Alec that has now brought it to the menu at Whisk & Arrow. The Mazagran is an Espresso Lemonade and it’s delicious. If this combination is throwing you off, just think of it as a stronger version of an Arnold Palmer (black tea lemonade). I love this drink and I strongly encourage you to give it a try this Summer. When ordering, you can choose from a curated list of syrups to add. I had the mint (again?!) based on Alec’s recommendation. You can even get it as a decaf, which both Alec and Christopher said is even better than with the regular espresso, perfect for a hot afternoon.
Those are just three examples of the kind of effort and thought that goes into the coffee service at Whisk & Arrow, but the menu is filled with many more. They offer a full line up of coffee house classics, craft teas, and a rotating menu of feature drinks. They even offer their housemade chai tea concentrate and cold brew in bottles for you to take home. Make no mistake, this is a fantastic, full service, specialty coffee shop. It just happens to be part of an amazing bakery. Whisk & Arrow serves JUST Coffee and is located at 1915 N. Richmond Ave in Appleton. They are open Wednesday-Saturday 7am-2pm (8am on Sat). Give their Instagram and Facebook a follow if you want to be tempted. Follower beware though, you may find yourself taking an unplanned drive to Appleton for a treat.