Looking for a new morning pick-me-up or a cup-a-Joe on the go? A new coffee shop in downtown Millburn has brewed up the right blend.
Light to dark roasts and blends using coffee beans from more than seven different countries, The Coffee Mill Roasters has everything for coffee lovers and roasts it all in house.
The brick walls, stand up bar and outside tables transports you into a Williamsburg-style coffee shop as you step off Main Street into the store not more than 50 yards from Starbucks and Rockn’Joes.
“It’s an urban-style New York coffee shop with roasting,” owner Gennaro Raimo explained. “And with an Italian flare of course with cappuccinos, lattes and espressos.”
Walking in, the first thing you’ll notice is Raimo welcoming coffee cravers into the store, recommending new blends — unless he’s roasting coffee beans downstairs— and his 27-year-old son, Daniel, who runs the shop with his dad, probably behind the counter.
Raimo, who was one of the owners of ASAP Photo next-door, said he wanted to bring a micro-roaster to Millburn so residents could get fresh coffee—by the pound or cup—without having to go to New York City.
“I’m 50-years-old, I just wanted to do something cool and hip,” Raimo said with a laugh.
The duo roasts the coffee in the basement with beans from Brazil, Ethiopia, Sumatra, Columbia, Timor, Kenya, and Guatemala. Originally, the roaster was upstairs, when the shop opened on Saint Patrick’s Day, but Raimo said it was too loud and smoky.
“Myself and my son are extremely passionate about coffee,” Raimo said.
The father-son business experiments with many different blends of coffee and its 4-bean espresso but also sell each country’s roasts separately by the pound.
Coffee isn’t the only fresh ingredient to Raimo’s idea of a boutique coffee shop. The store bakes crispy croissants daily— or cornettos, the Italian translation as the shop calls them—filled with chocolate, apricot, custard cream or just plain. It also gets shipments daily of other pastries from Balthazar in New York.
The small shop has a retro, urban feel to it with old diner-style stools, chrome with red cushions, at high-top tables and a stand-up bar with a large 1934 Coca-Cola sign on the wall. You won’t find any couches or comfy chairs in the coffee boutique either.
“Places are getting away from them [couches and chairs],” Raimo said as he rests his arm on the stand up bar, comparing it to pubs and coffee shops in Europe. “This is just more social.”
On a nice day, the shop opens the front café windows bringing in a relaxing breeze and has tables behind the shop and on Main Street for outdoor seating.
“I love this place and the people,” coffee lover and town resident, Esta Steiger said. “It’s like our own little ‘Cheers’ in Millburn.”
Steiger told Raimo she recently bought a pound of his coffee and split it up into Ziploc bags. She walked the bags around to all her neighbors with the store information on it to spread the word.
“My neighbors didn’t even open the bag and they were saying, ‘Wow I can smell the beans through the bag,” she said.
نظرات شما عزیزان:
تبادل
لینک هوشمند
