In January, a new cat cafe opened up in St. Paul. Located on 1416 Grand Ave, Catzen Coffee provides coffee and time to spend with cats.

Owner Vanessa Beardsley knew she wanted to start a coffee shop business due to the lack of them in the Macalester-Groveland neighborhood. The idea to incorporate cats came later when students from Macalester College started visiting her home to see her pets, since many were living far from home and could not see their pets at home.
Beardsley adopted all eight cats from the Humane Society last year before the cafe opened up. However, she emphasized that Catzen Coffee is not just a cat cafe but a coffee shop dedicated to making quality coffee. Since they have two sides, people who might not like cats very much are still welcome to just sit in the coffee shop side. So far, Beardsley said that they have been having a lot of success and hopes that Catzen Coffee becomes a staple in the neighborhood.

Throughout Catzen Coffee, there is cat-themed art everywhere on the walls in both the coffee shop side and the living room side, where the cats are. The living room has some cat-themed card games, including Exploding Kittens and is full of comfy seating with jazz music playing in the background.

If you are not a coffee drinker, that is okay. Catzen Coffee serves a variety of teas and other drinks as well as some food. I ordered the matcha latte, which did not have a very strong flavor and was very foamy. I enjoyed the latte art made drawn in the foam. I also ate a savory hand pie, which had chickpeas and a type of curry inside, which I highly recommend.

The cats themselves were a lot of fun to hang out with. To go inside the living room, a reservation must be made on Catzen Coffee’s website for a 45-minute time slot. No kids under the age of 15 are allowed in the living room except on Saturday mornings from 7 a.m. to 9 a.m. for 30-minute time slots, so if you want to go with younger family or friends, that would be the time. Once inside, you can play with or pet the cats. I used a stringy cat toy to play with the smaller of the two Maine Coons named Halloween Blizzard of ‘91, or “Holly” for short. Everyone who was in the living room, including myself, were big fans of the other Maine Coon and the largest cat at Catzen Coffee, Big Joe, who I would best describe as a gentle giant.

If you are someone who is living away from home and away from pets that you miss, are just a cat person in general, are looking for a coffee shop to study at or simply need a place to relax, I highly recommend checking out Catzen Coffee. I greatly enjoyed my time there and will absolutely go back.