Perfecting the art of coffee roasting
Vice & Virtue Coffee to open shop downtown
Vice & Virtue Coffee will open its first coffee shop early this fall.
This Memphis-based artisan coffee roaster will open in the lobby of the Arrive Memphis hotel at 477 S. Main St. The hotel plans to open in mid-september, based on final construction details.
Vice & Virtue Coffee was started two years ago by Tim and Teri Perkins.
The couple has made a name for themselves by roasting coffee beans in micro batches. Their process starts with sourcing the best green coffee they can find from farmers who grow and harvest it with obsessive care. Then they experiment with different roasting styles to coax the most complexity and flavor out of each bean — resulting in a delicious cup of coffee.
At the new coffee shop, expect a full coffee bar, featuring espresso drinks like lattes, espressos and cortados, using their freshly roasted coffee beans.
James Siao, the managing director of Arrive Memphis, said the hotel group is excited to partner with Vice & Virtue.
“Their product is exceptional and their team is incredible,” he said. “We knew we wanted to offer not only a locally made product, but one that was really good. Tim and Teri are passionate about coffee.”
The coffee bar
The Perkins have dreamed of being in the food business since they met while working at the same restaurant in college.
“We started out roasting coffee on our stove top at home,” Teri said. “We had enjoyed good coffee on our travels, and we wanted to see if we could make something similar for ourselves to enjoy at home.”
As they mastered the art of coffee roasting, the couple soon realized this was their path to being in the food business together.
They invested in a 1-kilo roaster and opened a small production facility in the Broad Avenue Arts District. This particular roaster allowed Tim, who is the head roaster, the ability to roast about 200 pounds of coffee a week.
The duo set up shop at area farmers markets and soon began selling wholesale to area restaurants like Lucky Cat Ramen and The Grecian Gourmet as well coffee shops like Comeback Coffee and The Belltower Artisans. Now, Curb Market, Cordelia’s Market and Muddy’s Bake Shop all carry retail bags for their coffee.
This coffee shop is the next step for the growing business.
“We are creating a coffee shop like one we would want to hang out in,” Teri said.
In addition to traditional coffee bar offerings, Tim said he is especially excited about the new coffee brewer.
“We have a Ground Control Cyclops brewer coming,” he said. “It brews coffee essentially three different times at different temperatures. The end is something unique and different. Every cup tastes like the best cup of coffee I have had.”
Tim also has another piece of equipment on the way — a 12-kilo roaster. This new roaster will allow Vice & Virtue the ability to roast 500 to 700 pounds of beans a day. It’s a big jump in production for this microroaster.
The hotel
Arrive Memphis will have 62 rooms and will offer what Siao describes as “something special for South Main and for Memphis in general.”
It will be the fourth location for this specialty boutique hotel group. Currently, Arrive has hotels in Palm Springs, California; Wilmington, North Carolina; and Austin, Texas. In addition to the Memphis hotel, a fifth hotel in Phoenix is also slated to open later this year.
The hotel will offer several dining options for guests and Memphians.
Paired with the coffee shop will be Hustle & Dough Bakery. Arrive Memphis partnered with Ali Rohrbacher, a rising star Memphis baker, on this bakery. Rohrbacher will offer breakfast and lunch items, as well as the artisan breads she has built her business on.
The coffee bar and bakery are in the main lobby, near where guests check in, and will have comfortable seating that was designed to give people a place to work and visit.
“We want to be a neighborhood hotel, where visitors to Memphis and locals come together,” Siao said.
Also in the hotel lobby will be Bar Hustle. Siao describes the bar as “fun and inviting.” For the early evening crowd, the bar will feature creative cocktails and local beers, as well as light snacks.
A full-service restaurant and bar that serves dinner and brunch will be in the basement.
“Long Shot will be a neighborhood bar with shuffleboard tables, big booths and TVS,” Siao said.
The menu will be “classics done right,” with a focus on small plates and house-made sausages.
Jennifer Chandler is the Food & Dining reporter at The Commercial Appeal. She can be reached at jennifer.chandler@commercialappeal. com and you can follow her on Twitter and Instagram at @cookwjennifer.