Bull Run Roasting Co. has joined the boutique coffeeshop movement with the opening of its first cafe, the Bull Run Coffee Bar. "It's a hybrid coffeeshop," says Brent Ringate, one of the new owners.

"For the slow brew by the cup, we are going to do single-origin coffees similar to Dogwood [Coffee Co.], but that's not the only way we are going to brew coffee," says Ringate. "We are going to do automatic drip coffee featuring more of the Bull Run wholesale coffees."

Ringate and his partners have brought on Gordon Bellover to oversee the cafe. Training under the country's first World Barista Champion, Michael Phillips, Bellover picked up the tricks of the craft while working at Intelligentsia in Chicago. Bellover has four baristas training under him who are perfecting their techniques and developing signature drinks to feature at the cafe. "The baristas have been playing around with different tastes using maple syrup and honey," says Bellover.

The cafe features 8- and 12-ounce drinks in-house and 16-ounce drinks to go. Chocolate and pastries come from Patisserie 46, and milk will rotate among Autumn Wood, Castle Rock and Crystal Ball Farms.

A visit to the new cafe revealed a veritable oasis for a certain kind of coffee lover. Moody alt-hip-hop pulsed quietly over the sound system as grad students pored over their notes and laptops, which were flanked by empty biergarten-style coffee glasses. We tried a couple of coffee drinks, and enjoyed both. A Black Miel ($5) was a novel and surprisingly mellow combination of coffee, Ames Farm buckwheat honey (which conveyed a bit of funky sweetness) and anise flavor. And a trifecta-brewed Colombian coffee ($2) was tasty, clean and flavorful, although a bit light on its feet -- almost more like a tea than the opaque mass that we tend to expect. When we bought a pound of beans, the baristas were low-key and helpful, asking pertinent questions about our home-brewing methods. (It turns out "French press" and "We grind our own beans a little at a time" are acceptable answers to "How do you plan to brew this at home?")

Besides training baristas, Bellover has been busy developing the house espresso blend known as El Matador. "Now that we have a flavor profile that we like, we will work to find new coffees that fit as others go out of season," he says. The espresso is bright with a syrupy mouthfeel and a light breadiness.

The shop opened April 4 with a La Marzocco GB5, a signature piece of equipment for any cafe looking to push the cutting edge of coffee. "We will have a La Marzocco Strada as soon as it becomes available," says Ringate, who says that he'll use his background in equipment to keep the cafe up to date.

The churn

Community-Supported Kitchens are taking off in Minneapolis. A play off of community-supported agriculture (in which customers buy "shares" and pick up boxes of goodies from a particular farm), CSKs sell boxes of items like homemade pickles or house-cured meats on a subscription or one-time basis. Corner Table has launched one, and Victory 44 will debut another this summer.

• The Heavy Table team writes about food and drink in the Upper Midwest five days a week, twice a day, at www.heavytable.com.