Trappeze Pub boasts a good roast
Editor’s Note: Every week, variety writer Ashley Sanders profiles and reviews a different local coffee shop. This is the third installment of the series.
Double fisting coffee and beer is probably not anyone’s cup of tea. Having the option to do so, however, is pretty cool.
Trappeze Pub is divided into two worlds – one of studious java fiends and the other of sophisticated late-night beer drinkers.
And while the expansive beer menu trumps most of those in Athens, the coffee is actually worth drinking too.
“We use 1000 Faces coffee beans, which are probably the best beans roasted here in town,” said Patrick Ennis, a barista from Columbus. “[1000 Faces] are more fairer than fair trade, and because they’re able to save all that money, it really just encourages a better product rather than more product.”
For those who worry that Hot Corner, the sub-par predecessor to Trappeze, simply changed names but not products, fear not.
“They used the beans that gas stations get, it was low, low quality,” Ennis said. “So our coffee is a little more expensive.”
“I used to come here when it was Hot Corner and then I left to go to ERC (Espresso Royale Caffe),” said Nick Kinney, a graphic designer from Athens. “I came back here and now I like the coffee a lot better.”
The most popular drink on the menu is the Trappeze Blend, a medium to dark roast good served cold or hot, which is a plus for all the iced-coffee drinkers who emerge during the summer.
And if your beverage gets lonely, Trappeze has an expanding food menu that puts a twist on average bar cuisine, featuring a spinach Gorgonzola salad and beef stew, to name a few.
“We also make the best turkey sandwich in town,” Ennis said.
It is stuffed with avocado and sprouts and comes with a side of chips and beer-based dipping sauce.
Customers can be seen alongside their laptops doing schoolwork and professional work.
“I usually come here everyday,” said Kinney. “I do freelance graphic design, so this is basically my office.”
And, although offices have a closing time, customers doing work are more likely to close up shop before the coffee space does.
“Towards the evenings it gets a little more loud and less conducive to working or studying,” Ennis said.
But even if customers feel irritated by the activity, all they have to do is walk two steps over to the bar to take the edge off.
