What’s the handiest thing to know about uptown Charlotte’s newest coffee temple?
As someone who sips at cold coffee for hours most days (not iced coffee, mind you, but the cold leftovers of whatever I threw in my cup that morning), I was grateful to hear a coffee manager say that his coffee is actually designed to get better if you keep it at your desk for a few hours.
Ken Kouba, the manager at the new location of New York-based Parliament Coffee dropped that tidbit Friday morning during a media preview. Thank you, Ken. I’d salute that, but I might spill my coffee.
Other things to know about Parliament, which opens at Tryon and 3rd streets (officially 300 S. Tryon St.) Monday morning: Parliament considers itself the middle ground in the coffee business, between places like Not Just Coffee (just around the corner) and “the person who grabs a cup at a gas station.” Emphasizing “approachability,” Morgan Bedore, the VP of marketing for STARR Catering Group, says, “You don’t need a lesson book to order coffee here.”
Parliament’s dark and light roast coffees are half Nicaraguan and half Sumatran. The Nicaraguan half comes from Henry Hueck, an American-born farmer in Nicaragua, who’s featured in a large chalk drawing on one wall. (Kouba notes that’s the picture is Henry “20 years and 50 pounds ago.”)
Parliament also features pastries, including a daily gluten-free option, and a wall of grab-and-go breakfast and lunch items. Coffee prices range from $2 to $4, depending on the size and pour. The espresso machine: La Marzocco, from Italy.
Handy: There’s a pickup window on the side, so you can download the Parliament app (listed as Parliament Espresso) and preorder. You get a free flat white the first time you use it.
Charlotte’s location is the third, after the first location at the New York Historical Society and the second in Philadelphia. Get the rest of the details at www.parliamentespresso.com.
Kathleen Purvis: 704-358-5236, @kathleenpurvis
This story was originally published December 8, 2017 at 10:47 AM with the headline "What’s the handiest thing to know about uptown Charlotte’s newest coffee temple?."