The High Five Coffee Bar is a coffee and pastry shop located in a hopping part of Downtown Asheville, NC. It is a fancy, modern, hip place to grab a cup of Joe. They keep it simple but change it up by providing several alternatives for basic ingredients. You can find your dairy-free milk alternatives including hard to find oat milk and all of the typical coffee shop beverages you expect.
Fruits, kombucha, homemade bagels, and baked pastries also fill the shop shelves. The seating is cozy with cafe tables built under slices of tree trunks. You simply cross your legs to get comfortable here around this short table. There is also a bar where you can grab your coffee or tables for larger groups. Plenty of lighting thanks to big windows.
The people that work for the High Five Coffee Bar are highly impressive when it comes to coffee. The baristas are sent through the Asheville Training Center that teaches baristas the water quality, milk texture, dose, etc. needed to make a perfect cup of coffee.
This is provided through the partnership with Counter Culture Coffee who supplies the beans for the High Five Coffee Bar. Counter Culture Coffee is based out of Durham, North Carolina. The company also has training locations in Asheville, NC to train new employees. This creates a completely local coffee drinking experience at the High Five Coffee Bar.
Here are our recommendations for both coffee and tea lovers:
French Press vs. Pour Over
Which tastes better, French pressed or poured over coffee? Now you can have both to see which method serves Asheville better. The beans all come from Counter Culture, a local Asheville roaster, making this a micro local coffee drinking experience. You should never turn that up when in a city like Asheville, NC. Try both the French press and pour over methods at the High Five Coffee Bar.
Barista’s Choice
Major traveling tip: if there is a chance to order the barista’s choice, 99 percent of the time you should. Word of warning: check the price first just in case you are dealing with a premium product. Here the barista’s choice might include homemade caramel syrup or mocha sauce. More importantly, you get a chance to taste a newly concocted coffee beverage that may blow your mind.
Sweet Smoothies
Fresh fruit smoothies continue to emerge as popular choices at cafes. Here at the High Five Coffee Bar, the smoothies hold their own. A berry option, one with peanut butter, and an interesting mix of almond butter, peaches, and cayenne are all on the menu.
Herbal and Looseleaf Teas
Typically at a coffee shop, you have one type of tea available, and its usually always bagged. Here you can choose from a good assortment of teas. If your party consists of a mixed bag of tastes from espressos to herbals, this coffee shop is a nice fit.
Chai Town
A decent mix of different teas includes both chai latte and a dirty chai. To clarify, a chai latte is a blend of steamed milk with hot chai tea. A dirty chai is the same but with a shot of espresso.
Insider’s Tips:
-Go with the Barista’s Choice if you want either an espresso or non-caffeinated beverage. The carefully selected flavors will align with the temperatures of the season.
-If you are driving, they offer free parking across the street from the cafe.
-If you are going to use the wifi you get two hours free. Then you have to buy something else to get another two hours of connectivity.
-There are plenty of places to sit and work if you are going to hang out here for a while.
-The latte is one size fits all with no option to change up the sizes.