Sister-duo Rebecca Palmer (left) and Andrea Crissey (right) own Euphoria Coffee. Photo courtesy of Euphoria Coffee.
Euphoria Coffee opened its doors to the Hamilton community on Monday, Sept. 4. The cafe, located in Sadove, serves “quality coffee products, all natural smoothies, bubble teas and delicious food options,” according to its Facebook page.
This is not the first time Euphoria provided the campus community with morning coffees or afternoon lunches. Hamilton students, faculty and staff who were on the Hill prior to August 2021 might remember Euphoria Smoothies — a cafe with the same name and same owners as today’s Euphoria that served Hamilton for 10 years.
The original cafe closed during COVID when different factors, like new job opportunities, led the family to “take some time away” from Hamilton, co-owner Andrea Crissey shared in an interview. In its absence, the Sadove storefront housed a third FoJo Beans location during the 2022–2023 academic year and The Toast during the 2021–2022 academic year.
Crissey and Rebecca Palmer, the sister-duo who own Euphoria, received a call this summer from Lucy Burke to re-open their establishment on the Hamilton campus, and several students seem happy about Euphoria’s return to the Hill.
“My COVID freshman year, Euphoria was a great food option outside of the dining halls and I was very upset to see it go. Now that Euphoria is back, I especially enjoy the to-go options on the days I am too busy to sit down in the dining halls. I am not a coffee drinker, but I really enjoy their smoothies!” said Catherine Vogt ’24.
“It’s exciting to see Hamilton bring something back that students cared so deeply about,” said Lane Barsh ’25.
The new Euphoria is shifting to a coffee-focused business model from the original smoothie-centric establishment. In terms of expanding, “we have plans of having our own roastery so we wanted to branch away from just being focused on just smoothies,” co-owner Andrea Crissey said.
Students looking for coffee on campus will now have another option in addition to FoJo Beans, a cafe and roastery with locations in the Science Center, beneath McEwen dining hall and a flagship location near Colgate University in Hamilton, NY.
The two coffee options seem to function at different price points. One 16 oz. iced coffee at Euphoria runs about $2.53, while a 12 oz. iced coffee at FoJo is $3.50.
“Our goal is to keep [prices] as reasonable as possible,” Euphoria’s Crissey said. “We know the struggles of going to school, having a budget to spend and not wanting to really go beyond what you’re able to do. So we want to be considerate of that and try and keep our pricing as reasonable as possible.”
“The prices are very low, and that makes me happy,” Mad Bartlett ’25 said.
FoJo Beans co-owner Daniel Joseph said Euphoria’s lower prices are not troubling. “I’m not concerned about it. You know, we all have our different audiences there. I believe there’s room for everyone,” he said.
Joseph suggested pricing is a topic of consideration for students when asked about common feedback left in the FoJo suggestion box, but prices likely will not decrease. He said FoJo relies heavily on feedback from the campus community, and tries to implement suggestions when possible, but “there were some things that didn’t make sense” to change. “Everyone wants to have a massive enormous meal for $1.99. But that’s not something that we can provide and still stay in business,” he continued.
Both coffee options, however, keep student interests in mind. Euphoria is focused on “being in tune with what the trends [are] and what you guys as students are looking for,” Crissey said. “We get a lot of feedback from the students and the professors. And if we mess up, we know about it, and that’s really important. And when we succeed, we want to know about it too,” FoJo’s Joseph said.