Spirited Goat of the Hippie Town

Imagine you’re standing in Yellow Springs, Ohio. What do you see?

Lots of color and uniqueness? People of all sorts just hanging out? The hippiest of hippie places? Sounds about right to me. Spirited Goat Coffee House represents the culture of its town more than most shops I’ve visited.

Now, if you’ve never been to the Spirited Goat or Yellow Springs, let me do some explaining.

Atmosphere

Well…honestly, I don’t know where to start. There is so much going on inside the Spirited Goat that I can’t accurately describe it all—but I guess that’s just part of the vibe.

Bright, sunset-colored walls grab your attention as soon as you walk in. The handmade plywood and vinyl seating area is orange, teal, purple, and green—all combined with the most random collection of pillows and fabrics.

But past the vibrant hues, the whole place is too random to describe in a uniform or progressive manor. It’s too random to even be classified as eclectic.

Just the number of odd things hanging from the ceiling was astounding: paper cranes, various lamp shades, shiny purple tinsel balls, paper chains, and a disco ball in the corner—oh! And the giant frame thing in the middle decorated with strange painted objects.

Hippie is really the best word to describe the vibe at Spirited Goat. I did a thesaurus search on “hippie.” Here’s what I came up with that fits the atmosphere: free-spirited, nonconformist, eccentric, and unconventional. So, hippie in pretty much every sense of the word.

The Spirited Goat is really not a great place to study, but it’s good for just chilling with friends if the vibe fits you. For the locals of Yellow Springs, it is a popular hangout space on the weekends (they often have live music and lively open mic nights).

Drinks & Prices

Spirited Goat might be one of the only coffee shops where I’ve personally enjoyed the drinks more than the atmosphere.

Vanilla iced lattes have become my thing lately, but I thought I’d try something a little more interesting. The “Carmella Mardella” caught my eye almost immediately. White chocolate, caramel, coffee, and steamed milk—this was possibly the sugariest coffee drink I’ve tried.

The blended mocha is one of my favorites at the Spirited Goat. It’s perfectly smooth and sweet without being too sugary (does that make sense? It does to me). Blending a mocha really just makes it more like a milkshake than anything else.

One caveat to my good review of the Spirited Goat’s drinks: they’re crazy expensive. If you’re just looking for a small drip brew, you’re fine—less than $2. But as soon as you get into any drink with espresso, you’re looking at upwards of $5 a drink. Don’t forget there’s a charge for anything that is iced or blended.

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The Spirited Goat Coffee House might not be the go-to study spot for a preppy city girl like me, but I can appreciate the culture that is so evidently embraced in the space. What cultures have you seen represented in other coffee shops?