Anna’s Adventures: Dolce Vita: a place for coffee, wine

As a college student and being over the drinking age, my two favorite beverages of choice are coffee and wine. Luckily, there is a place in Florence that serves both, Dolce Vita.

Dolce Vita is located on Dargan Street in Downtown Florence, right down the street from the Performing Arts Center. Dolce Vita has an amazing environment. It looks like a mix between a sophisticated coffee house and a wine tasting room. This relaxed and inviting environment makes me not hate being an adult for the duration of my visit.

Dolce Vita also hosts live performances as well, so you can enjoy your drinks and have a show all in one.

Dolce Vita has a broad menu in addition to their beverage options. There is an extensive variety of gourmet muffins. Some of the muffin flavors include bacon and cheddar, lemon poppy seed, sweet potato cinnamon crunch, blueberry crumble and pecan chocolate chip.

They also serve cakes. They offer specialty Mason Jar cakes, available in red velvet, chocolate and cookies and cream. By the way, these mason jar cakes are to die for.

As far as coffee, Dolce Vita serves their daily brew, espresso, lattes and mochas. Their lattes include the salted caramel mocha latte.

Some of their alcoholic beverage selections include Riesling, Sangria and a variety of red wines. The wine selection is pretty extensive with about 10 different wines available.

The way the wine works can be a little confusing. You buy a wine card for $3. From there, you can load as much or as little money onto the card as you would like. You will use this card to get your wine. The card is reloadable, so the $3 is a one-time fee. You then place your card in the wine dispensing machine and select your glass size. The money will be deducted from your card, and you get to enjoy your glass of wine. By being able to select the amount of wine you get, you are able to try a variety of wines, and then get larger glasses of the kinds you like.

Dolce Vita has even more appeal than just the laid back atmosphere and good drink selection. Dolce Vita does weekly giveaways of a coffee and muffins. Dolce Vita also offers a discount to FMU students and faculty for showing their ID.

Dolce Vita also has a weekly offer called Wine Down Wednesdays. During this event, all glasses of wine are 50 percent off, and all bottles of wine are 15 percent off. As far as their regular prices, the coffee prices are on par with the standard coffee house prices. Their muffins are $3, and the mason jar cakes are $3.49. Glasses of wine prices start at around $3.

With decent prices and the relaxing environment, Dolce Vita makes an unconventional study place. It has comfy chairs, Wi-Fi and coffee, all the needed requirements for a successful study session.

Dolce Vita is open Monday-Tuesday 7 a.m.-7 p.m., Wednesday-Thursday 7 a.m.-10 p.m. and Friday- Saturday 7 a.m.-11 p.m. You can “like” Dolce Vita on Facebook. Dolce Vita posts daily promotions, upcoming events and the weekly giveaway winners.