The Collins Living-Learning Center can feel like a wonderland, from the Hogwartsian exterior to the fact that their mascot is a gnome. But if you ask me, one of the biggest sources of whimsy is the Cheshire Café.
“The Chesh”, as many call it, is the not-for-profit coffee shop run by members of the LLC. It sits on a side of the Dottie Collins Commons in the Edmondson building, full of sticky notes, string lights and board games.
Leigh Suggs, assistant director of the LLC and a Collins alumna herself, described the café as a hub for the Collins community.
“We have a huge network of Collins alumni that like, you know, have all these really strong, beloved feelings when they think back about Collins and IU and like their college experience,” Suggs said. “And a lot of that, I think, is the Chesh is like a built-in part of it. They have this, you know, these really strong associations of the Chesh being a huge part of Collins.”
I agree. I lived in Collins and was a part of the LLC during the 2019-2020 school year. The Chesh is where I would take my quarters and go buy baked goods or a pop with added flavoring. On a related note, I recommend Sprite plus butterscotch syrup.
The Chesh is also the site of one of my most random memories from freshman year: paying 75 cents to down a shot of habanero syrup to get my picture on the Chesh’s Instagram page. I drank it all — it was a weird combination of sweet and spicy and my stomach did not like me for a while after that — but never made it onto the post. Oh, well, at least I got a good story out of it.
Part of what makes the Chesh special is that it’s always been a student endeavor. Suggs said it began as a Q project, and a brochure from 2004 said Collins resident Susan Snyder began the Chesh in 1991.
Every freshman LLC member must take the Residential Learning Workshop, and that involves a Q project meant to benefit the community in some way. Mine was a water balloon fight in the courtyard.
The Chesh also has some unique hours. It’s open from 8 p.m. until midnight, and you don’t have to live at Collins to visit. I think it’s one of the best spots for a late-night caffeine fix.
That’s what brought Sophia White and Alaa Abdel Salam, sophomores, over from Wells Quad, where they belong to the Women in STEM LLC. White said she comes to the Chesh often, drawn back by the atmosphere.
"Everyone's just really friendly,” White said. “I feel like everybody's always here, like, smiling and obviously with, like, the LLC that this is, everybody's always, like, singing, playing music. We obviously live in the Women in STEM LLC in Wells Quad, so sometimes it can get kind of like stressed there because we're always like ‘exam, exam, exam’. So, coming here is always like, ‘Oh, these people are having fun.’ Like, ‘Oh, I can have fun.’"
The Collins LLC, unlike the Women in STEM or the LLC associated with the Kelley School of Business, doesn’t revolve around a particular school or subject.
White ordered her favorite drink at the Chesh, the spiced chai, while Abdel Salam got the vanilla chai.
Barista Olivia Drew said that the vanilla chai is probably the most popular drink on the menu, estimating at 8:40 p.m. that there had been 10 orders for vanilla chai since the Chesh opened for the night.
Drew also appreciates the environment of the Chesh, saying that it’s a chill job with a great community aspect.
“I believe it's a really great space to meet new people and connect with others,” Drew said. “It's also a very nice place to get away from the more academic side of IU. So, I've met a lot of my friends through the Chesh where I just need a break from everything else, especially studying. So, a lot of my friends go here, and we go here all the time, even when I'm not working.”
Students don’t have to spend a lot of money to enjoy the Chesh, but they need to know that it’s cash only. Suggs said that students can’t use meal swipes there, because the Chesh isn’t a part of IU dining.
Drew said the most expensive item on the money, sans syrup, is a mocha frappe that costs $2.50. The least expensive drink is whatever the week’s iteration is of the random shot, random soda.
The baristas change the theme of the specials board every week, and when I visited, it was all about birds. Ordering the ‘Random Rooster’ would get you the random shot, random soda, where it’s a literal roll of the dice to determine your drink.
“We have dice here that people can roll, and then we have a little list, and we don't tell them what it is until after they roll the dice, so they don't try and buy a new one,” Drew said. “We save the randomness for last.”
I rolled the dice as an example, getting a five and a two. That gives you two options: soda #5 with syrup #2, or the other way around. My choices would’ve been a hazelnut Coke or strawberry mango soda.
One time, Drew said, somebody got Coke with milk. Instead of a syrup like vanilla, milk had been one of the flavor options.
“So, it just was a weird combination,” Drew said. “Some people actually like it. I don't understand what the appeal is, but it's very interesting.”
As Drew was recounting this, someone passed by and asked, “Not the Cilk?”
Drew responded, “Yeah. The Cilk.”
