Tucked away behind the illustrious Cape May Tractor Supply Company is Salty Acres Cafe – a wonderful little paradise filled with salty apples dangling from a metaphorical salty tree.
Stephanie and Derrek Thomas, the owners of Salty Acres, Cape May County’s only source of fresh sea salt, opened this cafe last September after three years of development. Now, they’re serving up fresh food and fresh drinks based on Stephanie’s own recipes.
While talking to the Thomas’s about their salt business, Stephanie was so kind as to make me the signature Salted Caramel Latte, made with their own sea salt. As someone who has a wary reputation as “the Coffee Guy” at college, I was very excited to try it. And let me just say: Wow. Mind-blowing.
So, after a quick call to my editor, I decided to do a coffee review of four of their signature coffees, chosen from recommendation by an ecstatic Stephanie. For 30 minutes, I sat in the Salty Acres Cafe and drank a frightening amount of espresso. Here’s what I thought.
Salted Caramel Latte
I’ve had many salted caramel lattes in my (short) day – from Starbucks’s salted caramel cream cold foam, to Princeton Coffee Club’s Seaside Salted Carmel Latte. The hardest thing, in my experience, about crafting a salted caramel latte is nailing the balance between salty, sweet, and espresso. Oftentimes, the caramel gets left on the side of the cup as I’m drinking, and I end up drinking all the espresso and milk with little contact with the caramel. Or, if I do taste the salted caramel, it’s more salt than sugar, and I’m left just wishing I had a free Venti water instead.
Stephanie’s salted caramel latte, however, failed to disappoint me. In fact, I was very much not disappointed. After the first sip, it was like a whole new world of salted caramel bliss opened before my eyes, a vision of what a perfect world with salted caramel lattes could be like. Made with espresso, your choice of milk (I did whole milk), caramel, and their own fresh sea salt mixed in and added on top, every sip seemed to capture that salty-sweet balance.
Mo’s Peanut Butter Cold Brew
In my coffee travels, I’ve had a wide range of interesting cold brews, from cherry colds brews, to matcha cold brews, to maple draft lattes. Yet I have never once tried a peanut butter flavored cold brew, or coffee for that matter. To put it simply: this might’ve been the best coffee I’ve ever had. Sharing that she took inspiration from the The Original Peanut Butter Cold Brew at Gideon’s Bakehouse in Disney Springs, Stephanie explained that they had originally made this drink with oatmilk to amplify the creaminess of the peanut butter but have since let customers decide which milk they wanted. Again, I chose whole milk.
Sometimes with peanut butter, the taste can be overpowering or chunky – in a bad way. But this drink was all you could want from peanut butter, and more. You could taste the peanut butter in every sip, but it was incredibly smooth and creamy, and there was just enough peanut butter that you felt satisfied and not overwhelmed. I think I had this finished in maybe 5 minutes. 10/10.
Sage’s Maple Cinnamon Latte
Something cool about this drink and the Mo’s drink is that they’re named after and influenced by the Thomas’s children. This latte, named after their daughter Sage, is the exact type of drink that can make you feel warm and fuzzy inside, whether it’s served hot or cold.
I am a big fan of maple, so I was super excited to try this one. I will say, it seemed like the cinnamon overpowered the maple with this one. I started to feel a little overwhelmed by the cinnamon after a couple of sips. With a little less cinnamon, this would’ve been even better. But overall, it was a good cup of coffee. The maple did shine through certain sips, and when it did, you could taste those cozy, autumn nights through the straw like watching leaves fall. I did have this one iced, but it would’ve probably been better served hot.
Morning Roar Latte
This was a bit of an obscure latte. I had never tried Lion’s Mane before. I had vaguely heard of it before, but in case you, my dear reader, don’t know, it’s a type of mushroom that is supposed to be extremely healthy for you, supposedly with brain clarity and energy. You’re probably saying, “Mushrooms and coffee? What?!” Wild, right?
Well, the mushroom is turned into a powdery mix that can be served in multiple different ways. Stephanie said this latte appeals to the people who already use Lion’s Mane. There was no sweetener in it, just espresso, milk, the Lion’s Mane powder, and ice. In all honesty, it kind of tasted like a normal latte, just slightly more bland and earthy. It was not my cup of tea (coffee), as I’m usually not a fan of any earthy flavors in drinks. But for people who like Lion’s Mane, or who want to try a new, healthy supplement, they can order this and either order it raw or add whatever sweetener they would like.
Each of these lattes I ordered iced; however, you can order them hot. For a small place tucked away behind a Tractor Supply Company, it serves quite delectable coffee. I would definitely suggest taking a trip, either on your way to the beach or if you just need a morning pick up, to the County Commons, behind the Tractor Supply Co., and order one of these. You won’t regret it.
Contact the author, Luke Grippo, at lgrippo@cmcherald.com
