Recently I’ve been battling an addiction. It’s true, I’m addicted to White Chocolate Frappes from The Red Cat Coffee House. In fact, I’m so addicted I’ve recently been buying these wonderful concoctions on a daily basis! If you’ve never tried out the coffee at the Red Cat Coffee House, go there now and grab a cup – trust me.

The Red Cat, as we’ll call it for now, was started by Kirk Summers and Erin Isbell back in 2008 “right before the economy crashed!” However, before starting The Red Cat (previously known as O Kafes) Kirk and Erin began roasting small batches of coffee via a home roaster. They eventually began to sell this coffee at the Pepper Place Saturday Market, at one point selling on average of 80+ bags a week. When the pair finally decided to take the plunge and start a coffee shop, they picked the most logical location: Martin Biscuit Building in Pepper Place!

Today if you walk into the doors of the Red Cat, you’ll immediately notice that they’ve got quite the operation. The first thing you notice is the large industrial looking piece of equipment on the floor, this bad boy is the coffee roaster (bought on eBay, of course). The Red Cat staff fires this beast up periodically throughout the week to roast coffee beans as they’re needed. Speaking of coffee beans, The Red Cat has really special beans. All coffee beans purchased by Kirk and Erin are fair-trade certified which, in short, means that the farmers & workers at the source (the farms) will always be getting fairly compensated for their work (More info on Fair-Trade). Kirk says that “although the coffee beans are more expensive, you end up with a better grade coffee bean”. And, of course, a better coffee bean means better coffee.

As if it wasn’t already obvious, the folks down at The Red Cat are awesome at making great tasting coffee…but what if you don’t like coffee? It may seem odd to us Java lovers, but there are a few folks out there who don’t have a taste for the bean. If you are one of these non-coffee-loving people, don’t you worry, The Red Cat has you covered. They serve smoothies(a great Frappe alternative) and of course they have all the usually coffee shop treats such as coffee cake, muffins, and danishes. They also pull out all the stops for lunch time offering pretty much a full menu of sandwiches and salads. Oh yeah, and they serve beer!

Also on the agenda for the Red Cat is live music! The word on the street is you can catch a live show down at the little coffee shop almost every weekend. They’ve got a permanent stage there, and the place can actually hold around 100 people. However, don’t come to the RC if you’re looking to rock out, they’re really into featuring indie, folk and acoustic artists…so chill. Being such a nice space also means that the Red Cat is the perfect place for all types of parties (rehearsal dinners, Birthdays, grad parties, etc) – they’ve got your drink and your food. You can check their website for who will be playing each week, and you can always make inquiries to reserve the place (or ask any questions at all) by emailing roastmaster@okafes.com

That’s it for the Red Cat! Make sure to try my favorite drink of all, the White Chocolate Mocha Frappe!

-AS

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