The Coffee Bean facing King Street
The streets of Leesburg are dead quiet on a Sunday morning. I’m hoping people are sleeping in. I’ve parked on a side street and stepped out onto the pavement, greeted by loud birds. I walk toward The Coffee Bean and a man greets me on the street. It’s loud and crisp and clear and cuts through the hanging humidity from the night’s rain. I step onto the porch of the shop and find the posted hours. It doesn't open till noon. It’s that quiet.
I don’t mind. I’m back again on a weekday. Walking in feels like walking into a historical Loudoun home on a summery day, stacked wooden stories and the humid, soft smell of coffee. A newspaper lays untouched on an iron and glass coffee table, situated before a floral couch. A coat rack is half aprons/half coats, speaking of spring. It’s a place where you don’t even want a use a card so you won’t cost them a cent.
I ask if they have blended coffees, and she says yes, but they can only do three varieties at a time in the grinder. No, in a blender, I clarify, happy that her default answer was direct coffee beans. No, sorry, she says. I love that there’s not a blender in the place. Keeping the street even quieter.
I order an iced coffee for myself and an iced chai for my sister. While I’m waiting, I guess how many pieces of candy are in a large glass jar. So much better than an email list. Newspaper passages are taped to the wooden counter. One features The Coffee Bean’s prices versus Market Street and Starbucks. The Coffee Bean shaves them off by cents. She hands me the drinks in covered paper cups. You wouldn’t know they were iced till you held them. I lift the lid out of curiosity, I guess, and see the ice piled to the top of the cup in huge chunks. It's been cracked straight out of kitchen freezer ice cube trays, taking up big squares in the cup, like a jumbled Tetris pile.
While I’m standing there, a young girl comes in an approaches the counter. “Are you hiring?” she asks, determinedly, while her friend stands behind. “Not till mid-July,” the barista responds. Disappointing words in the job search. The girls step out quickly and the barista says, full of energy, to her friend who is standing by the counter, “She’s trying to take my job." I’m glad she’s not eager to get rid of it. Because the drinks were perfect.
For more info: The Coffee Bean 110 S King Street Leesburg, VA 20175
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