Tastecraft Cafe brings coffee and sweet treats to Lewisburg

Lewisburg, Pa. — The last few years have been a journey for business owner Coleby Kauffman. And that journey's next stop is Lewisburg, as Kauffman prepares to open a second location this September of Tastecraft Cafe.

Kauffman, 31, said the new shop will open at 512 Market Street. The Lewisburg store will be a grand return after Kauffman shuttered the previous location in early 2020. "We were always intending on returning to Lewisburg. I'm from Lewisburg and me and my family own Black Dog Jewelers. We were waiting for another opportunity to come along," Kauffman said.

The young entrepreneur actually opened Black Dog as he was finishing his junior year as a business and marketing major at Susquehanna University. By 2015, he decided to open a kitchen specialty store in Mifflinburg and called it Tastecraft.

The specialty retail store opened by 2016 and sold spices, herbs, bagged coffees, and other kitchen goods. After a year in business, Kauffman decided to add coffee beverages to their roster of products. "I felt that we needed something to become a sustainable business and to draw people in," Kauffman said.

Kauffman closed the Mifflinburg location and opened in a larger space at 323 Market Street in Lewisburg. In the new space, he expanded to offer coffee beverages, sandwiches, ice cream, and baked goods. The expansion of products worked, and Kauffman and staff started seeing more foot traffic. "And we liked that more," he said of serving beverages and food. "We liked seeing the regular customers and it was more rewarding."

In 2019, Kauffman found a space at 41 Broadway in Milton and decided to make that Tastecraft's second location. However, in a twist of fate, circumstances at the leased space in Lewisburg forced him to close the shop in January 2020. In the same month, the Milton store opened. Then came the pandemic.

"When COVID happened, it changed our business model a bit. We started online ordering," Kauffman said. "We also started delivery in the Milton area. And we started the craft latte flavors, which kind of became our thing."

Today, the craft latte menu has expanded quite a bit to include favorites like Muddy Trail, Apple Crisp, Snickerdoodle, French Toast, and many more.

They also started coffee flights in which four flavors are released each week and customers determine the winner. Each week, the winning flavor advances to the next round. The coffee flight competition is now in its fourth season.

"Muddy Trail is a season one winner," Kauffman said, adding that it's the most popular craft latte flavor. Muddy Trail is a French vanilla-based latte with cold foam, chocolate drizzle, and crushed Oreo cookies on top.

Tastecraft Cafe's menu features craft lattes and sandwiches, among other items.

All of the lattes use a high quality Ethiopian coffee bean that is medium bodied with floral and fruity notes. The medium-bodied coffees do not have the burnt taste that some people experience when drinking darker roasts, and can be universally appealing. "Our take is it's better to serve something in the middle that tastes good," Kauffman said.

Just like the weather, craft lattes go through seasonal changes too. Banana Split was a summer flavor on the menu, Kauffman said. Apple Crisp, a fall flavor, became popular enough to add to the permanent menu. Staff at Tastecraft are once again preparing for fall and will introduce standards like pumpkin, plus a few new surprises.

"We have a lot of fun coming up with the new flavors," Kauffman said. "Customers really enjoy them." New on tap for fall is the Swashbuckler, a bourbon caramel-based latte with vanilla topped with cookie butter foam and sprinkles that look like little gold dubloons.

Tastecraft's Banana Split Latte was a popular summer menu item.

Fall also means that Barista Ghoul comes back. "Barista ghoul is now our year-round mascot," Kauffman said. "We started putting him out around Halloween." The skeleton mascot now graces Tastecraft's merchandise, including t-shirts and stickers.

Tastecraft's mascot, Barista Ghoul.

One other product that was added at the Milton store was wonuts — deep fried, miniature Belgian waffle-shaped donuts. Kauffman began selling them during the pandemic when he had issues getting French macarons from the supplier in New York City. The wonuts, along with the macarons, remain on the menu today.

Wonuts are one of the specialties at Tastecraft Cafe. The mini Belgian waffle- shaped donuts typically come with glaze or powder.

Other products on the menu include ice cream, Italian sodas, milkshakes, and shakeaccinos, which is a shake that includes ice cream and coffee. The variety of items offered has roughly doubled since the original Lewisburg location opened in 2016.

French macarons are sold at Tastecraft Cafe.

After running the Milton store for the past three and a half years, Tastecraft found its identity, Kauffman said.

The transition into the craft latte world has now given him a solid business model that he can replicate at any new locations.

"The Lewisburg store will be the splitting image of Milton," Kauffman said. The macaron case was recently installed in Lewisburg and Kauffman says they are getting closer to opening the doors. The final pieces of equipment are arriving in the next two weeks and then the necessary inspections will be done. "It's been a pretty seamless process," Kauffman said.

Kauffman expects the new Lewisburg location to be busy, as Bucknell University students recently returned. Hours for the Lewisburg store have not been determined yet. The current Milton location is open 7:30 a.m. to 6 p.m. Monday through Friday and 9 a.m. to 6 p.m. Saturdays.

Kauffman says he's looking forward to coming back to his hometown of Lewisburg. The downtown has a nice lineup of shops and restaurants that Tastecraft will be proud to once again be a part of, Kauffman noted.

"It's one of those things, if you fill a niche, fill that void, you will be successful," Kauffman said.

You can find updates on Tastecraft Cafe on their Facebook page.

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Tastecraft Cafe brings coffee and sweet treats to Lewisburg