Nevada is brimming with coffeehouses, those cosmically caffeinated retreats where java lovers can gather and indulge. Each coffeehouse has its own recipe for successful sipping. Some stir in poetry or jazz. Others add a quiet corner for reading or a cybernetic chat room. Here is a sampling of Nevada bean joints.

Full of Beans: Las Vegas

For Ileana George, coffee is a way of life. Growing up on her family's coffee plantation in Puerto Rico, she loved to suck out the sweet pulp that lies between the outer skin and the inner bean of the coffee cherry. She fondly remembers the aroma of beans at grinding time.

So it seems natural that she and her husband Lance would become coffee roasters when they moved to Las Vegas. Now in its ninth year, their Whole Bean (3441 West Sahara, 702-368-2633) is the oldest coffeehouse with a roasting operation in Southern Nevada.

"We like to help our customers learn how coffee is grown and the stages it goes through before it gets to their table," Ileana says.

Gunnysacks filled with arabica beans stand ready for roasting. The Georges buy several of their coffee beans directly from the plantations they visit in Central and South America. One of their newest drinks is Guatemala Antigua, which has a smoky, spicy flavor.

The Albion Coffee Bar (2466 East Desert Inn Road, 702-792-9554) has a library of 80,000 books as well as a wide assortment of java blends. Owners Michael Burdo and Lisa Horine serve drinks like the Mexican Mudslinger, made from a large latte, cream de cacao, coffee flavoring, and half-and-half. It's fun to browse the Albion's shelves of used books. On Saturday afternoons, coffee-wired Rubinsteins play classical music on a grand piano.

Lava lamps and computers decorate the Cyber City Cafe (2945 South Maryland Parkway near UNLV, 702-732-2001). Owner Joe Kendall provides nine computer terminals where customers can surf the World Wide Web and converse with coffee drinkers around the globe. (The cafe has a Web site at http://cybercitycafe.com.) For $12 per hour ($6 if you join a club), surfers can send e-mail, do research, and get travel information. This is the world's 47th Cyber City and the first in Las Vegas.

Brewed Awakening (2005 East Sahara, 702-457-7050) is one of several small coffeehouses that present music and poetry. A quartet plays "Zen Jazz" on Saturday afternoons and invites other musicians to sit in.

In fact, art-and-coffee houses abound. Poets in black garb gather on Tuesday evenings to share poetry and ballads at the Cafe Espresso Roma across from UNLV (4440 South Maryland Parkway, 702-369-1540). The Enigma Garden Cafe in downtown Las Vegas (918-1/2 South Fourth, 702-386-0999) holds poetry readings on Thursday evenings and acoustic music, including bluegrass, on Saturday nights. The Java Hut (3860 West Sahara, 702-248-4844) hosts poetry readings on Tuesday evenings, Wednesday jam sessions, an acoustic band on Friday nights, and comedy on Saturdays. The monthly "Murder Mystery Dinner" is an evening of sleuthing over a gourmet meal and cappuccino.

At Cafe Sensations in Green Valley (4350 East Sunset, 702-456-7803) customers sip coffee on a misted patio while they listen to jazz musicians on Friday and Saturday nights. In Boulder City, Coffee Classics (1647 Nevada Highway, 702-293-2333) entertains customers with poetry, harp, bluegrass, barbershop, or guitar performances on Thursday and Friday evenings.

Roasts of the Town: Reno-Tahoe

A high-octane aroma permeates the air just outside the doors of Java Jungle (246 West First, 702-324-5282) in downtown Reno. Joggers and dog-walkers stop in, as do lawyers and judges on their way to the Washoe County Courthouse.

"There are probably about 30 people who are regulars," says Harry Weiner, whose sister, Shelley Warne, owns the coffeehouse. "Shelley can recognize their cars and have their drinks ready for them when they come in."

Java heads fueling up for the daily grind will find bagels and other pastries baked fresh across the street at A Piece of Cake. As for the drinks, the Java Jungle was voted "Best Espresso and Cappuccino of Reno" in the 1994 and 1995 Reno Gazette-Journal reader surveys. The cappuccino is brewed strong and topped by a cap of foamed milk that supports a layer of cinnamon and nutmeg.

Despite its neoindustrial decor, Java Centrale (Smithridge Center at South Virginia and South McCarran, 702-828-9194), two miles south of downtown Reno, is a cozy conversation spot.

Couples cluster among the purple and yellow furnishings as they sip their raspberry truffle mochas and amaretto-flavored lattes.

Dennis Golden, who owns Java Centrale with his wife Kay, says variety is the spice of their establishment: They serve more than 800 different coffee drinks. The Almond Coco-Mo is a coffee concoction spiked with Ghirardelli chocolate and almond and coconut flavorings, reminiscent of an Almond Joy.

Java Centrale, which is part of a chain, has other sweets such as cheesecake. Live jazz flavors the joint at 8 p.m. on Saturdays.

Coffee snobs will find perfectly perked beans at the Laughing C.A.T. (5009 South McCarran, 702-826-3576). Owner and bean roaster Mark Fleming rises at 3 a.m. to fire up the roaster long before he opens the doors to customers.

"Roasting is a very closely held art," he says. "I stand in front of the roaster, and I know the bean. It's in knowing the individual types of beans and how they respond to heat."

Locals seem to appreciate his efforts as they savor the perfect cup of joe at the Laughing C.A.T., which also serves up a strong dose of camaraderie. "Caffeine is uplifting. It makes people very social," Fleming says.

In Carson City, poetry and music percolate at Java Joe's (319 North Carson, 702-883-4004) on the last Saturday of each month. The tie-and-suit set generally gathers there for early-morning muffins or a lunch of BLTs and blue-corn tortilla chips, while the evenings belong to mocha moshers dressed in combat boots and baggy pants.

Coffee lovers of all varieties are drawn to the place, if not for the excellent cappuccinos and melt-in-your-mouth scones (a low-fat recipe of owner John Davis) then for the casual living-room atmosphere. In the historic building, which was built in 1873 and once housed a furniture factory and undertaker's parlor, you can play cards or checkers while listening to music that can range from Cole Porter to Nirvana, depending on the tastes of the servers.

In Gardnerville, Auntie M's Espresso is a cozy coffeehouse crammed with antique coffeepots and other knickknacks. Sippers can snack on cranberry-walnut cheesecake with a Snickers latte while they scour the local newspapers and bulletin board.

At Incline Village, the Village Coffee House (Raley's Incline Center on Tahoe Blvd., 702-831-7354) has served Lake Tahoe coffee drinkers for seven years. Amid freshly baked muffins, pies, and cakes is a relaxed setting where you can kick back and plan your next hike or mountain-biking adventure.

The Gourmet Barn (702-831-2772), also at Raley's Incline Center, offers gourmet blends of coffee as well as espresso, cappuccino, wines, cheeses, pastries, and dried fruits. Phil Strohmaier, who owns the coffeehouse with his wife Rose, is a former farmer from California, and the decor has a farmhouse theme.

The Village Cafe and Roastery (901-B Tahoe Blvd., 702-831-7111), or "The Roastery," as locals call it, is dominated by an ornate coffee roaster. Coffee is roasted on-site daily. Owner Kim Steenberg says the beans are tossed out if they've aged longer than two weeks. The Roastery hosts "Coffee House Concerts" with live acoustic music on Friday evenings.

Country Coffee: Rural Nevada

Cowboy Joe (376 Fifth Street, 702-753-5612), next to the Western Folklife Center in Elko, serves beverages to buckaroos, although the cafe's tasty blends are a far cry from the water-and-grounds cowboy coffee you find on the range.

Owner Steve Stone says he never drank coffee before opening Cowboy Joe in July 1994. His favorite drink-he allows himself one per day-is a double latte. One of Stone's specialties is a Caramel Cow, made with espresso, steamed milk, caramel, chocolate, and whipped cream.

The front windows are decorated by Northeastern Nevada Museum staff in return for free coffee. Cowboy Joe serves breakfast and luncheon sandwiches made on home-baked foccacia bread as well as desserts baked in local church kitchens.

Cappuccinos and lattes are a relatively new trend in rural Nevada, but Fallon's Café Nations (960 Auction Road, 702-423-6828) is a bona-fide bean bar with espressos, teas, and pastries. A refreshing Italian soda can be made from any of the Café's 107 flavored syrups. "We carry just about every syrup that's drinkable," says Lisa Watson, who owns the shop with her java-addicted husband, Donald.

The most popular libation is the Café's mocha, which patrons order 10 to one over other drinks. "We make it very chocolatey," Lisa says. Café Nations stays open till about 9 p.m., so sippers can read or relax.

At Friendly Fernley Espresso (800 East Main Street, 702-575-6262), a tiny drive-through joint on the east end of Fernley, owner Melissa Smith says the coffee craze is just starting to brew.

"Even some of the old ranchers stop by. They don't know what the heck it is, but they like it," Smith says. She teaches "Espresso 101" to fancy-coffee newcomers, using a styrofoam cup diagrammed with how different drinks are made.

Kate Butler is a Las Vegas writer and photographer who switched to decaf following this assignment. Carolyn Graham is Nevada's jittery associate editor. Chaz Kasper of Lake Tahoe is a University of Nevada, Reno graduate student who drinks only premium roasts for all-night study sessions.




This article originally appeared in the
May/June 1996 issue
of Nevada Magazine's print edition.







Return to Nevada Magazine Online Features