Shine – a new coffeehouse at 14th and E streets – opened Aug. 29, and management said the neighborhood has been receptive, with sales steadily climbing. “We are ‘the chill zone,’ ” said Rena Davonne, owner of Shine. “I wanted it to be a neighborhood place.” The Shine building – which also houses belly dancing and yoga businesses – held a grand opening Saturday, and the coffeehouse brought live music to its small stage. “That went really well,” said Manager Demetri Gregorakis. “About 500 people came through the doors that day.” Gregorakis said that constitutes about four times as many customers as came through the business on previous Saturdays. “That was the first time we had live mus

Three young punk baristas from Sacramento are competing in their first national barista competition this week. Ben Lance, the 25-year-old manager of Temple, and Chocolate Fish Coffee employees Kyle Baumann, 21, and Erik Annonson, 22, left Wednesday for the 2010 U.S. Barista Championship in Anaheim. The competition is being held Thursday through Sunday as part of the 22nd annual Specialty Coffee Association of America Exposition. All three compete in preliminaries Friday to see if they'll go on to semifinals and finals at the coffee geek event of the year. More than 1,000 people may watch from the stands, and others from around the world will watch as the event streams live online. Lance

Old Soul Co opened their third Sacramento location Thursday morning in Oak Park. An old familiar spot has a new face in Oak Park and the community is well pleased. Starbucks shut down its 35th and Broadway location last year, much to the disapointment of many. The location was a community hub where many gathered daily to socialize, conduct business or just relax with a good book and a cup of coffee. Despite many letters from patrons voicing their conerns to Starbucks corporate office of the closure, the doors were finally closed in September of 2009. Knowing the community cenergy the coffee house brought regular goers better known there as "The Usual Suspects" were confident something go

It's that time of year again - time for "Best Restaurants," brought to you by Sacramento Magazine. After reading the readers' picks for each category, it made me wonder whether the results would be different for readers of The Sacramento Press. Our focus has been primarily on events and coverage of things in the Grid, whereas Sacramento Magazine covers a larger demographic including the suburbs. There were four categories that stood out to me in Sacramento Magazine's Best Restaurants: Best Burrito, Best Pizza, Best Burger and Best Coffeehouse. I live in the Grid and therefore have my own biases about restaurants that live in Downtown and Midtown. I prefer restaurants in this area to tho

Sean Kohmescher discovered the coffee culture as a beach barista in San Diego. The 23-year-old wanted a job on the beach, and he liked coffee. He became a barista at an outdoor café on Pacific Beach, and then what started out as just a fun job turned into a passion. "I kind of fell in love with the culture," he said. Kohmescher dreamed of opening his own coffeehouse someday. It wasn't until he began developing his palate while working in San Francisco's fine-dining scene that he really became passionate about coffee and tea. After moving to Sacramento, he opened Temple, a coffee and tea house, in 2005 in a storefront at 1014 10th St., once home to Levinson's Books. Now this 35-year-ol

Last night was an amazing meandering ride from Downtown through Midtown for the 1st Annual Bikeramento Crawl. Set the scene of a moving banner from sanctuary to sanctuary in the light rain. It all begins with the religious experience of a cup of mojo at Temple Fine Coffee & Tea. The loose Bikeramentans gather and awkwardly introduce themselves to the team. It’s to be expected. Who are these bike-crazy folks, these Spokes People, who believe that they can influence city planning and have fun doing it? Ah….soak up that caffeine. A fine whiff of a single origin espresso parting the perfect foam of that cappuccino. David Barton shows up with the sharp photographer for Sacramento Press. And