Coffee Is Back Inside Baker Brewery Novel Strand

Ever since its debut in 2018, Baker brewery Novel Strand shared its space with Queen City, which operated a coffee shop inside 305 West First Avenue. But in March, Queen City moved out and later reopened inside Town Hall Collaborative nearby.

But now you can get a caffeine fix again at Novel Strand, which launched a new coffee program operated by brewery owners Chantel Columna and Tamir Danon.

Novel Strand Cafe opened at the end of June, just ahead of the brewery's six-year anniversary block party. "We don't want to do things the wrong way — that's why we took our time," says Danon. "It's not a bunch of beer people trying to pour coffee. ... To do everything like that, it takes a little bit of time to make sure things are performing the way we like. We wanted to make sure it's what people are used to and looking for and expecting at the level we like to do things."

The cafe, which has its own designated staff, is open from 7 a.m. until 1 p.m.; the brewery opens at 3 p.m. Danon says there may eventually be overlap."Right now, we're not saying that we're serving beer during coffee hours on weekdays, but that might change in the future. We're not expecting to be rocking alcohol sales at 7 or 8 a.m., and that's perfectly healthy and fine," he notes. For now, the team wants to make sure the coffee service is dialed in and running smoothly before making that an option.
"The coffee program allows us to bring in a passion of one of our other owners," says Danon. Columna grew up in the Dominican Republic. "She makes coffee like they do on the island, so eventually we want do some sort of Dominican coffee done the Dominican way," Danon says. "Our backgrounds and our history will slowly dip into everything we do —that's sort of our thing, that's why we are sort of a little bit of everything."

In addition to standard coffee fare like espresso-based drinks made with Color Roasters out of Eagle, the cafe offers pastries from neighbor Rebel Bread.

Because the cafe's debut coincided with the brewery's anniversary party, there hasn't been a grand-opening celebration yet. "We still might want to do something fun," Danon says. "But being a month in. there's some changes and adjustments we are still making. ... We don't do anything half-assed. We have to make sure we're putting the energy into it properly —you're getting an experience."

And more changes are on the horizon: Novel Strand is in the process of getting a liquor license so it can add wine and draft cocktails to its menu in the next month or so.