OAK HILL — Fayette County’s initial coffee micro-roaster — and one of usually a handful in a state — is gripping it craft, internal and all in a family. ¶ Top Knot Coffee and Artisan Shop in downtown Oak Hill is an alpaca-themed coffee emporium and cafeteria charity adult good brews and a line of products featuring West Virginian artisans.
Owner Daniel Harding, who owns a store in partnership with his relatives Angela and Roger Harding and mother Stephanie, roasts his possess coffee beans by approach trade coffee organizations that bond him directly with tiny growers around a world.
Their residence blends are a middle dark-roasted Peruvian bean and a some-more amiable medium-roasted Nicaraguan bean.
“The art and scholarship of roasting intrigued him,” explained mom Angela. “His seductiveness and investigate about building his possess fry was important. That’s what helped us make a preference to go forward and fry a own.”
Top Knot also offers espresso-based drinks, and they have a some-more normal taste. Daniel pronounced he wants people to be means to ambience a coffee, and his lattes, mochas and “alpaca-ccinos” are full-bodied and flavorful.
He uses a deep, dark-roasted Italian character espresso mix he also roasts himself.
Daniel pronounced he’s always desired coffee, and with his family’s 25-acre alpaca plantation offered healthy chronicle and weave products, formulating a space to offer coffee, a singular menu, and yield a venue for internal workman producers to sell their products done sense.
About 10 years ago, a Hardings purchased a plantation in Oak Hill.
Daniel had only seen alpaca farms in Utah and suggested his family cruise putting alpacas on their newly acquired land.
Their small, 8-alpaca plantation fast grew and they now have 30 of a animals. The family shears their stock and sends a nap to Morning Star Fiber in North Carolina to be spun into all-natural, undyed alpaca yarn, that they sell in a store alongside handmade weave and felted items.
It is from their alpacas that Top Knot gets a name, that references a cluster of long, curly hair that adorns an alpaca’s head.
Overseen with Daniel’s knowledge in a grill industry, a emporium is family-owned and operated and if focused on bringing another internal choice to downtown Oak Hill.
“We wanted a small, insinuate plcae on Main Street where visitors could come and revisit other businesses,” explained Angela. “We wish we can inspire other people to move in some-more singular shops. The dream would be to have a series of businesses where people can spend an afternoon and travel a widen of Main Street, revisit several places and have lunch.”
The space is tiny though cozy, a gentle place to grab-and-go or dawdle and revisit with friends.
Top Knot offers a singular menu of crushed sandwiches (what his kids call panini-style), salads and soups.
“We wish to concentration on carrying a tiny though good menu, and we get a food from a internal West Virginia distributer, though put a concentration on quality, art and coffee,” Daniel explained.
In further to their workman products — like soaps, valuables and felted purses — visitors can buy Top Knot’s possess whole bean coffee in half-pound and bruise bags.
They now offer pastries and fruit for breakfast, though devise on adding a hot, crushed breakfast sandwich soon.
Top Knot Coffee and Artisan Shop is located during 127 Main Street in Oak Hill.
They are open Monday by Friday, 8 a.m. to 6 p.m.
For some-more information, follow them on Facebook or call 681-823-5503.
— Email: splummer@register-herald.com; follow on Twitter @Sarah_E_Plummer