After a 5 1/2 year run, Kopplin's Coffee (2038 Marshall Av., St. Paul, www.kopplinscoffee.com) has left its original Hamline-and-Randolph location and moved 3 miles west to a new home, on the same food-centric block as Izzy's Ice Cream, Trotter's Cafe and Sweets Bakeshop."I don't think I'm a two- location kind of guy," said owner Andrew Kopplin with a laugh. "I'm too much of a micromanager for that, and you can't be in two places at the same time."
The Twin Cities' first true destination for coffee purists -- and hot chocolate freaks -- is now ensconced in far roomier digs. "It's three times as large as the old place, if you count the storage in the basement," said Kopplin. There's additional customer seating, but the noteworthy expansion is behind the counter, where there's lots more room for Kopplin and his baristas do their thing.
"We're going to be able to get more creative, and concentrate on more specialty drinks," he said.
The new address isn't the only change. Kopplin has replaced the shop's fancy -- and wickedly expensive -- Clover brewing machines in favor of a simpler, far more low-tech process of his own design.
"I wanted to do something that people can imitate at home," he said. "It's basically steeping and then filtering, and if you bought all the required equipment, it would cost about $125. That's a pretty reasonable home process. There are plenty of fancy gadgets that make coffee look difficult, but you can make it very simply, too. You don't need to be some kind of wizard."
THREE EVENTS
Food-truck season may be at its end, but Kitchen in the Market (920 E. Lake St., Mpls., www.kitcheninthemarket .com) in the Midtown Global Market is playing host to street vendors one day each month throughout the winter. First up? Sunday, from 11 a.m. to 2 p.m., when the Smack Shack (www.smack-shack.com, maker of wicked-good lobster rolls and other delicacies) and Foxy Falafel (www.foxyfalafel.com, awesome falafel that more than lives up to its Foxy name) will be cooking up a storm. No trucks, however. "Most have already been winterized," said Kitchen in the Market co-owner Molly Herrmann. "Besides, we couldn't figure out a way to get them into the building."
Kitchen in the Market's future indoor street food get-togethers -- which will take place in conjunction with a winter farmers market -- will be held on the last Sunday in January, February, March and April.
