Take the road less traveled — namely, Stevenson Place in East Liberty — and you’ll find Spot of Coffee, a new café from an old coffee hand.
Tucked away on a short little road behind Paris 66, Spot of Coffee serves flavorful lattes, cold brews, espressos, and other drinks made from single-origin beans and house-made syrups, plus locally baked sweet as well as savory treats.
Open since August, it’s a new venture from Nabeel Haque and his wife, Selena Garcia. The founders of Centred Coffee & Wellness at the corner of Centre and South Aiken avenues, they recently sold that café to friends. The location of Spot of Coffee was briefly a second location of Centred last year.
Spot of Coffee in East Liberty Crafts Beverages From Ethical Sources
“After we sold our Centre Avenue shop, we traveled and visited cafes in other cities and brought back what was trending,” says Haque.
The handcrafted coffee drinks begin with ethically sourced, organic beans. Spot of Coffee uses local roasters on a rotating basis; Haque started with 19 Coffee Company and Redstart Roasters. For tea drinkers, there’s ceremonial-grade matcha, the top-notch Japanese green tea that is typically comes from first harvest leaves.
You won’t fine an refined sugars in any drinks either, says Haque, whose go-to sweeteners include whipped honey, coconut sugar, and maple syrup. The inventive drinks include lattes with flavors of carrot cake, chocolate banana bread, as well as brown butter miso.
The baked goods come from Driftwood Oven in Lawrenceville.
The goal is to “become a destination,” says Haque. “We’ve created a product we ourselves would travel to enjoy.”
Story by Deborah Weisberg
Photo by Spot of Coffee