Life’s bean good

By Randal Smathers

Ah, competition. Ain’t it grand?

Center Street in downtown Rutland has suddenly become Caffeine Alley.

For approximately forever, it seemed like every time the Coffee Exchange changed hands or looks, its hours got shorter — a supply and demand thing, we were told. And that’s just fine if you’re a morning person, but for those of us on a 10 a.m. to 10 p.m. kind of shift, it has been a drag not being able to grab a java after midafternoon.

But no longer: Two new places are vying to be your favorite cuppa joe.

E.J.’s coffee bar opened up last month in the Avanti hair salon at 52 Center St. Yup, in the salon. He’s redecorated part of the waiting area, added a brew station and a little espresso machine and is keeping the salon staff and clientele fueled, as well as serving passersby.

If you’re having trouble finding E.J., let him find you … that’s right, E.J’s delivers to the immediate vicinity. There’s no minimum order, but it depends on his being able to pop out for five minutes.

He roasts his own beans every Friday in partnership with Gene’s Beans at Diamond Run Mall, and if you think of E.J.’s in that context it makes sense of what otherwise seems like an odd location. For the most part, he’s serving the coffee-to-go market, not unlike a mall kiosk.

He’s also taking his act outdoors on good days, depending on the weather, with a table and a couple of chairs.

Starting Monday, E.J.’s hours will be 8 a.m. to 5 p.m. Tuesday through Saturday, and he keeps a pot hot for customers on the honor system until 7 p.m.

Another half-block up the hill, Jen Hogan of Hands On Minds On children’s art studio has added an artsy touch to Café Terra in what used to be the Teacher’s Closet, next door at 67 Center St.

Extending her arts theme, Jen has decorated the place with plenty of artwork and even has a paint-your-own mug option, an extension of the Muddy Hands pottery studio that she helps run next door.

There’s a little conversation/reading area and a nice, sit-and-relax feel to the place. A light menu is in the works, as is wi-fi, but as the newest entry to the field, it doesn’t yet have its phone hooked up, so give it a couple of weeks.

Hours are 8 a.m. to 4 p.m. Monday to Thursday, 8 a.m. to 9 p.m. Friday and Saturday, with happy hour Thursday from 6 to 9 p.m.

There are still the originals: Coffee Exchange, now attached to Clem’s next door, and the Java News in the Asa Bloomer building.

In a way, they both have location, location, location. Java News, with a substantial display of Green Mountain coffees on tap, is closest to the many folks working in their building and has the transit center out the back door. Not a lot of walk-through traffic, though. They’re open 7 a.m. to 3 p.m. Monday to Friday.

Coffee Exchange is the most established player in the game, with its prime location at the corner of Center and Merchants Row and outdoor tables making it the easiest place to find from the most directions. With that visibility, good snacks and wi-fi, the only thing lacking has been longer hours. I suspect that was at least part of the impetus for the new cups on the block.

So after closing at 3, then 2:30, then 2 … now that there’s some competition Coffee Exchange has a hand-lettered sign in the window announcing they are again serving until 5 p.m. — from 7 to 5 p.m., Monday to Friday – 7 to 2:30 p.m. on Saturday and 8 to 1 p.m. on Sunday, to be precise.

Ah, competition, grand, etc …

My nagging question is, if they drive out the newcomers, how long will it be before they’re back to closing off the spigot at 2 o’clock?

Taste tells

I drink dark roast, black, and lots of it, so that’s my measuring stick. I grew up in a house where there was a percolator on low about 16 hours a day, with a little star-shaped wire on the stove element to keep the coffee from burning.

Café Terra gets a big thumbs-up from me for serving Vermont Coffee Co. Having given up most of the bad habits of my youth, about my only surviving addiction is Vermont Coffee’s dark roast … along with an occasional fix of Ben & Jerry’s Cherry Garcia. And cinnamon buns with raisins from Baba-A-Louis. And a grilled ribeye steak … shrimp on the barbie … steamed crabs … Long Trail’s Belgian ale … mmm. Sorry, seem to have lost the thread there … where was I?

Oh yeah, Vermont Coffee Co. — based in Middlebury — is what Green Mountain Coffee used to be, back in the day before they became GMCR, a corporation publicly traded on Nasdaq: a tiny Vermont company putting out a great selection of coffee. Vermont Coffee’s dark roast is the caffeine-juice equivalent of Beethoven’s Ninth, which is to say the Ode to Joy and a whole lot more. I’m about two bags from being able to send in for a free thermos from their “Frequent Friends” program. If you haven’t tried it and you like coffee con cojones, as it were, do so. You’ll thank me. Their Tres Mariposas also gets rave reviews from coffeeheads I know who drink lighter blends.

It’s also all organic, fair-trade, if you care about such things.

By comparison, Coffee Exchange offers New England Coffee Co. To extend the classical music metaphor, it’s the “1812 Overture”: Popular, accessible and more than a little lite for my taste. But lots of people like Dunkin’ Donuts coffee, after all, where a “regular coffee” comes with milk and sugar … ewwww. I mean, to each his own.

E.J.’s dark roast is somewhere in the middle, very, very similar to the Green Mountain served up by Java News: good and plenty dark for most folks, if not exactly my cup of … errr … coffee.

But really, there’s not a bad cup to be had, up and down the block. Prices are Lower Than StarbucksTM.

Lattes/espressos/capuccinos/double-mocha-grande thingies are available except at Java News. But that’s another column, after my hands stop shaking from all the caffeine I’ve ingested for this one.

I should mention that all the cafes offer some variety of pastries, teas, cold beverages and what have you. Café Terra’s and Coffee Exchange are a little more refined; E.J’s is a little more on the cookies/squares end of the scale. Given the — and I’m back to that word again — competition, I expect they’ll all do some experimenting, so rather than list everything only to have it change, I’ll just suggest you try them for yourself. And tell them what you want. It’s suddenly a heavily caffeinated jungle out there, and I know they’ll appreciate the suggestions.

They are all handicapped accessible (Coffee Exchange through Clem’s entrance) but not with access-friendly restrooms.

The winner is …

If you’re counting at home, yeah, Café Terra is the winner in my book. It’s an interesting clientele away from being what I want in a coffeehouse: great coffee, high-quality sweets and a comfortable place to sit and chat. But that’s my taste, and coffee is as finicky a preference as there is.

I mean — the horror — there are people who voluntarily drink decaf. No, really.

Some folks who will undoubtedly find E.J.’s more their style, and for morning people who are looking for a straightforward tastes-like-Dunkin’ D’s joe, the Coffee Exchange or Java News will undoubtedly continue to be their downtown stop of choice.

And in the interests of full disclosure, I know the owner from her other business and because she lives down the street a ways, but honestly, if Attila the Hun was selling Vermont Coffee Co. in a comfortable setting, I would still go there. Not that Jen or her staff resemble Attila … eh, you get the point.

The great thing is that we now have that choice, and that’s without Starbucks’ if/when/mythological opening at the corner of Routes 4 and 7 up the hill.

Compare that to six weeks ago, when there wasn’t a coffee bar with a window on the street and comfy couch open after two in the afternoon, and you’ve come a long way, Juan Valdez.

Ain’t. Competition. Grand.

Café Terra, 67 Center St., phone TBA.

Coffee Exchange, 101-103 Merchants Row, 775-3337.

E.J.’s, 52 Center St., 236-0290.

Java News, 88 Merchants Row, 775-6225.

Vermont Coffee Co., www.vermontcoffeecompany.com