From hosting open mic nights to book clubs and vinyl record pop up shops, Coal River Coffee Company has woven its way into the very fabric of St. Albans. There’s always a steady stream of customers, and friendly baristas whip up each drink to perfection.
Owners Michael and Rachel Ervin opened the business in 2018, after an idea was sparked when they moved back to their home state.
“For years, I would drive down this street and think it’d be really cool to have a coffee shop here,” Michael says. “We really needed one.”
“I was working a job I really didn’t like, and I’d always had the dream of opening a coffee shop,” he says. “I’d started roasting coffee on my own in my garage, just as a hobby, and loved it.”
One day, Michael produced a delicious coffee, outdoing and surprising himself. That brew was single origin Nicaraguan coffee sourced from direct trade from the Primos family farm.
“That became my first favorite single origin that I roasted ever in my life,” Michael says. “We ended up establishing Coal River Coffee when I was just roasting coffee out of my garage.”
Inspired by friends, the Ervins secured a business license to sell their coffee. Michael continued to experiment with roasting, learning how to be consistent. He introduced other single origin coffees, including from Guatemala–another direct trade relationship, this time with the Leivas coffee farm in the country’s southeastern mountains.
But Michael perfecting his coffee roast and the desire to switch jobs weren’t the only motivators for starting the business. The couple wanted to do something that could revitalize their community. Having lived all over the world, Michael says he’s seen firsthand how small town coffee shops have impacted their communities.
“Whenever we travel, we’d always try to go to one,” he says. “We said we need to bring this here because it could be the caliber and quality of a business that could start a revitalization in St. Albans.”
A good complement to the Alban Arts Center across the street, the Ervins recognized they still couldn’t accomplish their goals for the community on their own.
“We also knew that for our business to be successful, we would need the community to rally behind it,” Michael says. “We always had that in mind, and our tagline became roasting coffee, brewing community. We’ve become a part of the rhythm of people’s lives.”
When Coal River Coffee opened, their menu was simple; they only had an espresso machine, coffee, tea and cold brew.
“When we started, we knew we needed to start small,” Michael says. “We would add things as we could facilitate it. Now we can pretty much do any kind of coffee beverage.”
It’s not all about the coffee at Coal River, though. Michael says it was always in their larger vision to have a robust food menu, and now, almost every menu item is the brainchild of Michael or Rachel. From brie and fig, apple and gouda or the jalapeno popper grilled cheese sandwiches, Michael experimented with nontraditional offerings, stemming from what he makes in his home kitchen.
Adding raspberry jam and ham or turkey makes for another popular grilled cheese, and the dill pickle grilled cheese is another of Michael’s personal favorites that’s now a staple of Coal River Coffee’s menu.
Michael credits introducing salmon bagels to the area, and there’s always a soup and sandwich option on the menu. Rachel’s chicken salad has been a customer favorite for years, and her baked goods include muffins, cookies, brownies and more.
“All of the baking is Rachel’s brainchild, and that came over years of testing, trial and error,” Michael says.
Striving to use fresh, local ingredients as much as possible, including collaborating with JQ Dickinson for their salted drinks, Coal River Coffee Company also sells their own coffee beans, as well as fresh eggs, honey and seasonal fresh flowers, in partnership with other local businesses.
With a menu chock full of specialty drinks, the best selling drink is always a combination of cold coffee and cold foam no matter the season. Another of Michael’s original creations is the Queen Bee Latte, inspired by a childhood bedtime snack and named after a friend’s honey company called Three Queens, as their honey is used at the shop.
“I would sneak into the kitchen when I was a kid and get marshmallows, honey and whatever chocolate we had and have that as a treat,” he says. “It was almost like a s’more, but I didn’t really like graham crackers. I thought this would be good as a drink so I put it together.”
The shop has seasonal specials, as well as in shop exclusive drinks and lemonades, frappes, Italian soda, hot chocolate and just about any coffee concoction. They also popularized coffee flights in the region and often feature barista picks and specials created by the baristas.
Coal River Coffee also has a kiosk inside the Charleston Coliseum, and they serve coffee during tours and for artists who perform there.
“We serve coffee during all of the tours, load-ins and when the bands are coming and setting up,” Michael says. “So we usually create a themed drink for that artist.”
Whether being part of proposals, hosting weddings and more, the coffee shop has been able to connect to many community members.
“We’ve been able to see so many friendships and relationships developed in the shop over the years,” Michael says. “We’ve been a part of a lot of different things. It’s humbling, it’s rewarding. We wouldn’t do this labor of love if we couldn’t see direct change and be a positive part of people’s lives.”
As runners, Michael and Rachel apply the philosophy of no competition–that the only, and biggest, competition they have is themselves.
“Instead of trying to expand and grow bigger and have a million different locations, we are trying to make what we do better, so when people do business with us or come into our shop, we want them to go away feeling like this was a great experience,” Michael says.
Coffee has even taken the Ervins to Washington, D.C., to testify before Congress regarding small business taxes and participate in small businesses summits.
“It’s wild what coffee’s done,” Michael says.
