Two New Drive-Thru Coffee Shops, Two Very Different Experiences

No cozy couches, soft lighting, or people tapping away on laptops here. Just delicious food and drinks bought through the drive thru from friendly, casually dressed workers.

This is the set up at 7 Brew Coffee and Cary Out Coffee, two drive-thru only coffee shops opened this spring in Crystal Lake and Cary, respectively. 

7Brew has been expanding in locations and flavors since they opened in Arizona in 2017. The Crystal Lake location is one of over 500 locations nationwide, including Algonquin and Elgin.

7 Brew is on the lot previously occupied by KFC in Crystal Lake Commons, right by where Great American Bagel used to be sigh Cary Out Coffee is located at Janus and 14, in the old drive-thru only Burger King.

One is an independent and the other is a one location amongst many, but that's definitely not where the differences end. 

For one thing Cary Out Coffee has, well…coffee! As in a plain cup of joe, while 7 Brew actually doesn’t. Your best bet is an americano. They don't brew drip coffee or pour over. It’s espresso shots and syrups all the way down. 

7 Brew's menu is almost exclusively drinks and the variety is impressive! 

Not feeling like one of their flavorful (if overly sweet) lattes? Try one of their 7 Energy blends. I opted for the dark and complex Nightshade 7 Energy. Lavender, pomegranate and blue raspberry mixed with their signature in-house energy drink (everyone's got one!)

Well perhaps not everyone. Cary Out doesn't, nor does it have the frankly intimidating variety of flavor options. The lattes and mochas are on the weaker side. My hot white mocha tasted like a hot chocolate. 

This is almost besides the point because where Cary Out really shines is their delicious food.

As stated in their full name, they serve breakfast and lunch. The perfectly cooked eggs make their breakfast sandwiches a must try. 

They also offer other breakfast choices that you won’t see on the vast majority of fast food breakfast places, like biscuits and gravy and grilled banana bread. 

Their prices are roughly equivalent, with 7 Brew charging $550 for latte and Cary Out charging $5.65 for a mocha.

That's cheaper than Starbucks and CL independent Summer Moon Café but more expensive than McDonalds and Country Donuts.

I had a 40 minute wait at Cary Out on our first visit and I had to order three times. But they had been open for business for less than 4 hours. 

The food was wonderful. The staff was consistently courteous through what was probably a hellish workday. I don't consider a longish wait a dark mark at all.

Being a more established company and one I did not visit on opening day, 7 Brew did have a much quicker turnaround. 

Unfortunately there is also no menu board to order off of. The customer pulls in and the worker walks out to the car with a tablet and card reader to take their order. 

Requiring a customer to scan a QR code or look up the menu may be the way of the future. It cuts down on paper and plastic waste and provides the businesses with trackable metrics. 

But considering it's a new business, this is a bad customer service choice. 

I did finally see the full menu, placed at the very end of the line after I paid and picked up my drink.

 Helpful for deciding what to order next time, unhelpful for new customers of their delicious sodas and lattes. 

Drop into either or both when you get a chance and tell us what you thought down in the comments. Was there enough coffee in the coffee? Was the lack of menu board a genuine deterrent? How good is that egg sandwich?!