New Coffee Bar To Celebrate Grand Opening In Fairfield

FAIRFIELD, CT — Recently opened Shearwater Coffee Bar will officially celebrate its opening in Fairfield with a ribbon-cutting ceremony on Wednesday, June 14. The café, located at 1215 Post Road, will host the ribbon-cutting ceremony at 4:30 p.m. with Fairfield’s First Selectman, Mike Tetreau, Director of Community and Economic Development, Mark Barnhart, Beverly Balaz, President of the Fairfield Chamber of Commerce and members of their Board of Directors, and other state legislators and officials. The public and coffee lovers alike are invited to join in this new café’s official opening-day celebration.

Known as Fairfield County’s passionate organic coffee roaster, Ed Freedman adds “café owner” to his portfolio with the opening of the Shearwater Coffee Bar in a 1,200-square foot corner location within the Brick Walk business and retail section of downtown. (To sign up for Fairfield breaking news alerts and more, click here.)

Named One of the 15 Best New Coffee Roasters in America by the popular digital lifestyle magazine Thrillist.com, and bestowed a 92 rating from CoffeeReview.com for their Organic Homacho Waeno Ethiopian roast, Shearwater introduced its small batch coffee roasts to Fairfield County in September of 2013 and was soon touted by java junkies, major gourmet food markets, and reputable area chefs as one of the leading coffee brands in the state.

Beginning this month local coffee enthusiasts can have their Shearwater Coffee and eat it too when Shearwater Coffee Bar sets up shop in a modern industrial café designed by Ed’s daughter, Boston-based architect Amber Freedman.

The space is wrapped in floor to ceiling windows, allowing for the natural sunlight to play off the clean, earthy tones throughout. Much of the coffee bar’s “décor” elements are in the raw ingredients and equipment that produce the highest quality coffee beverages, including the new the new Faema E71 espresso machine just launched in the USA.

Shearwater Coffee Bar features savory and sweet pastries from Huckleberries Artisan Pastries including; flourless fudge brownies; seasonal shortcakes and turnovers; organic first cut buttermilk biscuits; and fresh muffin cakes such as local carrot-ginger and cream crumble cake. Gluten free options from The Bee and the Baker include; carrot apple raisin muffins; zucchini bread; peanut oat chocolate chunk cookies; and paleo granola to name a handful of items. Artisan teas from Leaf & Ardor and Belgium chocolates from BE Chocolat round out the menu. A unique highlight will be both Shearwater Running Rapids Cold Brew and Nitro Coffee on tap from a dedicated kegerator.

A section of the coffee bar will is dedicated to a wide retail selection for the coffee enthusiast that would like to buy pour-over equipment, grinders, and French presses from top brands like Hario, Chemex, Baratza and Espro. And of course, Shearwater has a ready supply of their USDA Certified Organic and Fair-Trade coffee beans that can be purchased by the pound.

“We take our coffee very seriously,” Freedman said in a press release. “And now we’re infusing it with a fun and social atmosphere. It’s been a dream of mine to open a coffee bar and Fairfield is a great town to have my dream come to fruition.”

Contributed photo