Buona Caffe Artisan Roasted Coffee is expanding its downtown operations, finally opening up its Reynolds Street location to the public just in time for First Friday.
“We’ve always been on the hill area, midtown area since the beginning,” said co-owner John Curry, who started Buona Caffe with his wife Pat Curry from their kitchen in 2010, and opened their first brick-and-mortar location on Central Avenue in 2013. “We really liked that area. We’ve always lived in that area since we moved to Augusta. But we always felt like we’re a part of downtown and supported downtown in everything we did.”
MORE: Helping the helpers find each other
The Currys have since opened a café in the Georgia Cyber Center, in 2018. In 2017, they acquired the building at 520 Reynolds St., which has functioned as a coffee roastery and barista training center.
“We’ve been roasting our coffee here all along,” said Curry about the 8,400-square foot Reynolds Street shop, which has enough room to warehouse coffees, green teas and espresso equipment and holds classroom space for trainees. Curry explained that the bar area set up for barista training is ripe for use as a coffee shop. “It was in our plans all along to open this up at some point as a shop. So now’s the time.”
The spot was selected five years ago because of its proximity to so many of Buona Caffe’s restaurant customers, such as Frog Hollow, Craft & Vine and, more recently, Pho-Ramen’L.
“We’ve put a lot of work in this in this property,” said Curry, who also notes location’s parking, which can hold 20 to 25 cars, a major plus considering how precious available parking is downtown. Curry also feels that being a block away from the entrance to the Riverwalk on Sixth Street doesn’t hurt, either, especially as the completion of the Fifth Street Bridge approaches.
“So hopefully we’ll get more traffic down this way,” he said. “And the Miller Theater is a block away up Broad. You know there’s more things moving down this direction.”
The Buona Caffe Coffee Bar at 520 Reynolds St. will be open Friday from 7 a.m. to 2 p.m. and then from 5 p.m. to 9 p.m. For more information on regular hours, visit its website at https://www.buonacaffe.com/.
Skyler Q. Andrews is a staff reporter covering education in Columbia County and business-related topics for The Augusta Press. Reach him at skyler@theaugustapress.com.
