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aLatte Cafe
12 years ago newlyweds Neil and Melissa Sanders were working at the Norfolk International Airport. They were fresh to the Hampton Roads area, after previously owning a shop in the Outer Banks together and saw potential for a coffee shop in downtown Norfolk on Granby. An idea that would later turn into the sprawling and eclectic aLatte Cafe. For 12 years aLatte Cafe has stood as a kind of benchmark on Granby St. The store hosts the entire community of Downtown Norfolk. Whether you’re a performer at the Governor's School for the Arts, Tidewater Community College student, an employee of one of Granbys many landmark businesses, a tourist exploring historic Norfolk or simply stopping in for a coffee on your way out of town, aLatte is the spot you turn to. Filled to the brim with art, giraffe figurines and the intoxicating smell of freshly roasted coffee, aLatte is the perfect place to ‘stay a while’.
aLatte Cafe
taste.
Freshly Roasted Coffee
One of the most note-able and unique elements of aLatte Cafe that differentiates us from other whole bean coffee shops is the fact that we roast our beans fresh. The process of roasting is an intense one. The beans go through many stages of degassing, the breaking down of sugars, amino acid release and finally the resting process. If coffee beans sit for too long after they have been roasted they go through a process called oxidation. Essentially the oxygen reacts with the oils and other solubles that coffee contains and lessens those unique flavors, causing a kind of flattened affect. Bags of coffee that you buy from your local grocery store, for example, have probably been sitting for months since they were roasted. At aLatte, we pride ourselves on only serving the freshest coffee which we roast in house and the comparison is an easy one. Starting your day with a cup of the freshest possible cup of coffee makes a measurable difference. We also pride ourselves on only serving fair trade beans. Our distributors prioritize environmental impact, human rights and fair pay. All that said, when you enjoy any of our coffee products, you can be certain you are drinking the freshest cup of coffee around.
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aLatte in the Community
The community on Granby St. is a unique one. Filled with arts, culture and a creative economy there really is nowhere like Downtown Norfolk. Us at aLatte Cafe feel very grateful to be a part of that community. We are proud to have working relationships with many of the other businesses on Granby like the Gym Downtown, the Norfolk Admirals, Todd Rosenlieb Dance Studio and the Governor's School for the Arts. The support that we receive from other locally owned businesses and that we in turn give to them is one of the reasons why Granby St. has continued to be such a successful and bustling area for small, locally owned businesses. We are proud of how we fit into this community and feel incredibly lucky to have a home on Granby St.
