Quality Brewing Attracts Blacksburg Loungers
By Casandra Lyon
The enticing aroma of coffee wafts around the busy shop as customers enter and exit. The shop’s atmospheric lighting and comfortable chairs make the environment warm and inviting. College-aged students, adults and children are scattered throughout the store, relaxing, chatting and drinking. This scene is a common occurrence in any of the coffee houses in Blacksburg. Although they all serve coffee and pastries, each shop is well known for different reasons. Some shops roast their own beans, others have live music and some even display local art. The one passion these coffee houses share, however, is the quest for the perfect cup of coffee.
The Easy Chair Coffee Shop, located in the University Mall, has been serving the town of Blacksburg for 10 years. Russell Chisholm, one of the shop’s devoted founders, not only works as a barista, but also roasts all of the beans used in the shop.
“We are constantly striving to improve. I believe you must start with the best green coffes available. Roasting in-house has taken our coffee forward in leaps and bounds,” Chisholm said.
The Easy Chair brews a medium roast, a dark roast and a decaf on a daily basis. While the shop does not offer flavored beans, they do have a variety of flavored syrups which can be added to any drink of choice. “We discontinued flavored coffees because … the base beans for flavored coffees tend to be lower quality,” Chisholm said.
The Easy Chair belongs to various coffee organizations such as the Specialty Coffee Association of America, the Roasters Guild, and the Barista Guild of America. The shop’s founders are continually seeking new knowledge about the art of coffee. They have traveled across the country to roasting and espresso workshops to improve upon their craft.
Several of the baristas employed at The Easy Chair are talented latte artists, who can “throw down rosettas like champions,” according to Chisholm. Latte art can range from relatively easy heart shapes to detailed portraits. The barista uses a combination of the latte’s foam and espresso to make an abstract design or picture.
The Easy Chair has free wireless internet and a variety of pastries and regular food. The shop occasionally hosts live performances from local bands, open-mic nights, and charity events.
The Easy Chair has the latest hours of any shop in town, according to Chisholm. The shop is open Sunday through Wednesday from 6 a.m. to 2 a.m., Thursday from 6 a.m. until midnight, Friday from 6 a.m. until 10 p.m., and Saturday from 8 a.m. until 10 p.m.
Chisholm is dedicated to coffee and takes great pride in his work: “I believe The Easy Chair has the most devoted coffee professionals in our area. So, yeah, we're a little obsessive about coffee.”
The Daily Grind, located on Turner Street, just recently opened 8 months ago. The Daily Grind is a franchise coffee shop offering an assortment of coffee drinks, merchandise and food.
The Daily Grind brews an array of coffee, including organic dark roast and their house blend. Their most popular flavored coffee is “Jamaica Me Crazy,” which is a blend of vanilla, caramel, and kaluha, according to Elisha Georgiades, one of the shop’s assistant managers.
While the shop gets most of its flavored latte recipes from the company’s corporate headquarters, they also come up with their own unique drink recipes every few days. In addition to regular drip coffee, lattes, cappuccinos, and espresso, The Daily Grind also offers smoothies, italian sodas, cremosas, and steamers.
Quality espresso shots are the most important component of The Daily Grind’s lattes and cappuccinos. “We have timed espresso shots, from 18-24 seconds. Our espresso shots are never weak or bitter,” Georgiades said.
The Daily Grind has a large selection of food, ranging from breakfast items such as ham and cheese croissants to panini sandwiches, soups and salads. The shop also provides free wireless internet to its customers.
According to Georgiades, The Daily Grind plans to host live band events in the future. “We’ve been trying to get [a list] together, but we haven’t been able to come up with a [local band] list big enough yet, but we’re working on it. We also want to get some local artists work up.”
The Daily Grind is open Monday through Thursday from 7 a.m. until 10 p.m., Friday from 7 a.m. until 8 p.m., Saturday from 9 a.m. until 8 p.m., and Sunday from 9 a.m. until 10 p.m.
Mill Mountain Coffee & Tea, located on North Main Street, has been open for 15 years, making it the oldest coffee shop in Blacksburg, according to the shop’s owner, Scott Elich.
Mill Mountain roasts its own coffee on site. The large roaster sits in the front of the coffee shop, offering patrons a glance into the early life of their coffee.
“Everything we have we roast here so it’s all fresh. We roast every other day. [Our] goal is to roast coffee and sell it within seven days, that way it’s fresher than coffee anywhere else,” Elich said.
Mill Mountain carries a variety of roasts such as Java Estate, Costa Rican, and their own special brew, Mill Mountain Blend. The shop also offers flavored, decaf, and organic roasts. Mill Mountain brews five different roasts of drip coffee every day.
Elich believes in great tasting coffee. The shop uses two tablespoons of coffee for each cup of water used in the brewing process. “We brew it right; a lot of people don’t use enough coffee when they brew it,” Elich said.
In addition to regular drip coffee, Mill Mountain offers an array of specialty drinks. The shop offers regular espresso drinks like cappuccinos and lattes, as well as unique drinks like espresso milkshakes and espresso coolers. Mill Mountain also carries a large assortment of pastries, breakfast foods, sandwiches, salads, and soups.
The coffee shop’s walls are littered with paintings done by local artists who are members of the Blacksburg Regional Art Association. The paintings are rotated every month and a half or so, according to Elich.
Mill Mountain is open Monday through Friday, from 6:00 a.m. to 11:00 p.m., and Saturday and Sundays from 7:00 a.m. to 11:00 p.m.