The Red and Black

Issue date: 6/25/09 Section: Variety

Media Credit: JON KIM OK Coffee on College Avenue caters to your wildest coffee dreams by offering to make whatever you can imagine, including Belgian waffles, tea and even real fruit smoothies. [Click to enlarge]

Editor's Note: Every week, variety writer Ashley Sanders will profile and review a different local coffee shop. This is the second installment of the series.

The number of strolls, stumbles and drives students have taken down College Avenue during their four or five-year stay at the University is unfathomable.

The number of students who visit OK Coffee probably isn't.

But this small-and-often-overlooked independent hut can play hardball, too.

OK Coffee resembles the kiosks that famously grace the blocks of New York City.

It provides a quick and easy fix for those on the run.

Coffee. Check. Location. Check. Affordable. Check.

"We use Jittery Joe's roast, it's the cheapest coffee downtown by a long shot," said Patrick Ware, a barista from Athens. "We have any kind of coffee drink you can imagine. If you come up with something we don't have on the menu we'll make anything."

The location naturally attract the walks of life that reflect the true multipolarity of Athens.

"One of the things that I like about this job is what I refer to as Mayberryness," Ware said. "Everybody in town from lawyers and shopkeepers and students comes through, and every homeless person I know by name."

The one-stop shop is the only one of its kind in downtown Athens, which in turn has built a loyal customer base.

"I get the same three things everyday," said Terica Bell, a clerk at the College Avenue Parking Deck. "They actually have great coffee; I'd rather go here than Starbucks."

OK Coffee also serves over thirty teas, Belgian waffles and real fruit smoothies, among other numerous menu items.

And even though the kiosk provides a seating area at Wuxtry, the neighboring record store, customers prefer the fast-paced ordering style downtown.

"You can sit in our little coffee shop but people like to grab something and run," said Dan Walo, co-founder of OK Coffee. "We get this active audience at the base of the parking deck. They get out of the parking garage and there we are."

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