PHOTOGRAPHY : EDELINDA BAPTISTA ; SOPHIE SHORT / NEW HARVEST COFFEE ROASTERS .
inding that lowkey , intimate spot to sip on hot or iced coffee , with friends or your laptop as company , can be hard to locate . As we settle into this year ’ s cold winter months , signature coffee ( and cocktail ) drinks are sure to keep you toasty in the comfort of these cozy cafes and roasters .
SOUTH Fuel Coffee Bar Lynn Eglington had always wanted to own and run a coffee bar on a warm Caribbean island . Narragansett is a close second . Fuel Coffee Bar , a five-minute drive from Narragansett Town Beach and ten minutes from the University of Rhode Island , offers hot coffee , hot chocolate , chai lattes and sixteen flavors of iced coffee to get you pumped for your day .
Early in her professional life , Eglington performed cardiac and diagnostic testing and loved her occupation until policies began to shift and it wasn ’ t as hands-on as she preferred . Deciding she no longer wanted to stay in the medical field , she chose her next dream job : running a coffee shop .
The Misquamicut native moved to places like Boston and Florida , but the beaches of
Clockwise from top left : New Harvest Coffee Roasters ; Fuel Coffee Bar ; The Beehive Cafe .
South County were calling her back to her hometown , where she looked up potential coffee spots for sale online . The shop on Boston Neck Road was a rundown “ big burlap sack of coffee beans ,” as Eglington says jokingly . But in her late fifties , she took a leap of faith anyway and made a coffee bar out of what was a compact space with the help of her significant other .
“ I knew people would always like coffee no matter what the economy is ,” says Eglington . “ If you ’ re a coffee drinker , you ’ re going to drink your coffee .”
Eglington bought the shop from a local roaster called Rhody Roasters ( previously named TLC Roasters ). Roaster Ken Marot delivers beans to her to this day , and they ’ re so fresh that “ sometimes the oil on the beans is still so new and sticking to the grinders ,” she says .
The theme for the coffee bar was inspired by her younger brother , John , an avid surfer since he was little . In fact , one of the paintings in Fuel Coffee Bar — a surfer gliding across a giant pipeline — is the same painting that was posted above her brother ’ s bed in their childhood home . He also came up with the coffee bar ’ s LLC , Hit the Liquid . Look around the shop and find a photo of Fuel ’ s inspiration , posed with his surfboard in California .
On hot summer days , the beach crowd takes over the coffee shop to purchase flavored iced coffees , and during any day of the year , you can spot URI students with laptops , notes and trusty beverages to keep alert while studying .
Seven hot coffees are brewed fresh every morning and , on bustling days , a new pot is brewed every hour to keep up with demand .
84 RHODE ISLAND MONTHLY l FEBRUARY 2022