New coffee emporium JAM Parkside fills need for surrounding North Buffalo community

Don’t mount between a Parkside area and a crater of good coffee.

JAM Parkside, a coffee emporium led by Amber Small, Monica Cichon and Jesse Crouse, non-stop to a open during 10 a.m. Mar 30, a execution of what’s been a accordant village bid by an odd strategy.

JAM, that stands for “Jesse, Amber, Monica,” has some-more than 70 investors in a plan – starting during $100 – and a usually requirement is they contingency reside in New York. Naturally, several of a 70 come from North Buffalo and a Parkside neighborhood; they have been outspoken about a need for a coffee emporium in a former Sweet_ness 7 location, that has sat empty given Jan 2017, and were peaceful to representation in to serve a effort.

“[The business model] is singular to usually a integrate businesses in New York State,” Small said. “It’s by an intrastate charity with New York State, that allows us to have a community-owned aspect to a coffee shop. It’s identical though not a same as a associated model.” JAM laid out a sum of area collateral debate here.

The interior of JAM, during 301 Parkside Ave. (Ben Tsujimoto/Buffalo News)

As shareholders in a for-profit company, investors share profits, accept a bonus during a emporium and were initial to try a flagship coffee. Moreover, a contingent of namesake owners/founders skeleton to give behind to a village any year, commencement with a area cleanup during a date to be determined.

“[JAM] is not my prophesy and it’s not Monica’s vision,” Small emphasized. “It’s what a village wants.”

The JAM coffee mix is a cafe’s job label pleasantness of Crouse, who also roasts for Tipico Coffee, during 128 Fargo Ave. in a West Side. What’s sparkling to a owners, and house member Steve Cichon (also a Buffalo News contributor and father of a owner), is how unobtrusive a decoction is.

The drinks menu and prices during JAM. Please click to see a incomparable image. (Ben Tsujimoto/Buffalo News)

“I’m a drive-through coffee guy. we adore coffee. At a high indicate of my coffee intake, we was substantially adult to dual or 3 pots per day. I’ve attempted to behind off a small bit,” prefaced Cichon. “And this is a best kind of drive-through coffee you’ve ever had – that’s what it tastes like to me. You don’t ambience it and consider you’ve walked into some swap coffee world. It’s usually a unequivocally good unchanging coffee.”

From a some-more technical standpoint, Crouse minute a roast. “It’s a mix of southern Colombia and Carmo de Minas Brazil that creates an approachable, saccharine body, easily sharp coffee that’s a throng pleaser,” he wrote in a message. The JAM mix will be brewed uninformed in a Parkside cafeteria though will also be accessible in bags.

[From 2015: Tipico Coffee aims to set new Buffalo standard]

The menu was intentionally built simply, Crouse said, and he highlighted one serve drink, a classical cappuccino built around Tipico’s Coordinates espresso mix and divert from Ithaca Dairy.

The food menu won’t be too elaborate, though it will deliver Mundy Cakes, formed in Allentown, to a opposite neighborhood. Owner Amanda Bernardini will ready both honeyed and delicious dishes for a shop, including sharp corn muffins, filled with a hard-boiled egg, about that Small raves. Toast and jam, as we competence suspect, will also be available.

The cafeteria can chair usually 15 people during a time, though it will be open early adequate for business to cocktail in on a approach to work. Hours will be 7 a.m. to 7 p.m. daily.

[Related: Read how Parkside Meadow, JAM’s neighbor, reopened in 2015]

BONUS NUGGETS

• In tailoring a building to fit their concept, a JAM owners worked with Buffalo ReUse to emanate a coffee bar done with reclaimed wood, and some-more re-purposed materials were partial of a replacement of a behind area of a shop. Small remarkable how unapproachable she was of a venture’s sustainability.

• Outdoor seating is a idea for a future. There’s a startling volume of travel parking on a easterly side of Parkside, as good as spots on Russell Street, a one-way headed west toward a Buffalo Zoo.

• JAM will offer giveaway Wi-Fi, a contingency for any complicated coffee shop, we’d think.

[Cover story: New cafes enhance Buffalo’s coffee culture]

INFO: JAM Parkside, 301 Parkside Ave. Hours: 7 a.m. to 7 p.m. daily. 381-8828.

The opening to JAM Parkside, graphic during a intersection of Russell Street and Parkside. (Ben Tsujimoto/Buffalo News)

Email: btsujimoto@buffnews.com