Donut Week 6: Early Birds Donuts (Durham, North Carolina)
For the final week of the delicious Donut Tour, we return to Durham, North Carolina to uncover the hidden gem known as Early Bird Donuts. Nestled near Duke University and Duke Hospital in Erwin Terrace, this shop has earned a reputation for some of the best donuts in town! In addition to their donuts, they offer scratch made biscuits, breakfast sandwiches as well as locally sourced coffee.
The donuts are made in small batches so they are always fresh, and the options were typical of what you would expect to find in a donut shop. I chose a classic glazed, a chocolate iced, 2 raspberry iced with sprinkles, cinnamon crumb & a powdered shell with raspberry filling! I thought it was cool that they have a variety of shells and fillings to choose from, and they are filled on the spot as you order. While I waited for my donuts and coffee, I noticed pictures of donuts and people throughout the shop that I assume are customers or family & friends. On my way out there was a mounted unicorn head, which made me chuckle. I always enjoy seeing personal touches like this that add to the overall personality of the business and tell you a little about its owner.
I held off on tasting any of the donuts until I got home, because the yeast donuts are so light and warm that I would inhale a few on the drive back and there would be 0 pictures for this post! But once I arrived back home, man were they delicious! They were fluffy and just melt-in- your- mouth good. (Insert drooling emoji here). I have tasted only one other donut that would be competition with these, and I won’t mention their name since this is not their time to shine, but I’ve found my new spot for donuts at Early Birds!
As for the technical stuff, they use Square for their POS & they have it set up to allow you to purchase gift cards online but no option for ordering food. To place large donut orders or large donut cake orders, their business can be found on Facebook where they advertise their phone number and email address for contact.
