Ubora Coffee opened bright and early at 5:30 a.m. at its new Evans location on Friday, Sept. 1.
After lengthy preparation, the Augusta-based coffee shop hosted what proved a busy soft opening day to test out how Columbia County would take to it, says co-owner Phil Weisner.
“We’ve learned a lot about our systems,” Weisner said. “We’re not a franchise. We’re not out of the box.”
The café started four years ago downtown, roasting fresh coffee five days a week, and even now still ships coffee to customers as far as Alaska and Hawaii.
For the last two years management at Ubora had been looking for the right time and place to spread to Columbia County. They settled on a former fast-food restaurant building on North Belair Road, the former site of both Wife Saver and Gary’s Hamburgers, and in May of this year started renovating the space.
Ubora Evans opened from 5:30 a.m. to 7 p.m., on Friday, but Weisner notes that the hours, as well as the menu, may be adjusted to adapt to the needs of the area.
“If Fort Gordon requests us to open up earlier, we will,” said Weisner.
The shop is right along the way for nearby military and other personnel who drive to Fort Gordon every morning.
The downtown café enjoys support from Augusta University students, and Ubora Evans aims to draw both those from AU who live nearby as well as local high schoolers. For example, an 18-foot community table, equipped with outlets for devices, stands in the center of the dining area.
“We want to give them a place where they can feel safe, where they can get caffeinated and get their studies done,” Weisner said. “Because they’re who’s going to be making the future for the rest of us.”
To prime themselves to serve their new expanded customer base, Ubora management and staff has drawn on experience working with the county, providing coffee for various events. Weisner credits Columbia County’s hospitality with attracting Ubora in the first place.
He also says staff isn’t too worried about competing with other, larger chains embedded in the area — such as Starbucks, Dunkin Donuts or even Black Rifle Coffee, because of Ubora’s unique selection, as it buys and roasts specialty grade coffee, stressing proximity in quality to original Italian brews.
“[Columbia County] does have a very rich coffee culture that we felt was vibrant enough that we can step into the ring with other great options,” Weisner said.
One of its more popular items, he says, is the iced Vietnamese coffee, made with four shots of espresso, condensed and regular milk, for “the right kind of sweetness without adding all the extra syrups and sugars.”
Weisner’s personal favorite, however, is the lavender latte, which he remarked, “hot or cold, is perfect.”
Ubora Coffee Roasters Evans, which will be waiting about a month for its grand opening, is at 116 N. Belair Road. Its downtown location is at 1128 Jones St. in Augusta.
Skyler Q. Andrews is a staff reporter for The Augusta Press. Reach him at skyler@theaugustapress.com.
