New Artisanal Coffee Shop Opens On Port Jefferson's Main Street

PORT JEFFERSON, NY — A new coffee shop has recently joined Port Jefferson's iconic downtown area.

Southdown Coffee, a Long Island artisan café, opened its fifth location at 440 Main St. in Port Jefferson last month.

Mark Boccard, owner and creator of Southdown Coffee, told Patch he created Southdown in 2014, after working in coffee for some time.

"Owning some sort of restaurant was something I always thought of as a kid," he said. "So I just came to it somewhat naturally."

When the opportunity arose to open the first location in his hometown of Huntington, Boccard said it was a family affair.

"My grandfather actually built the stores where the original location is," he said. "So when there was an available space, that was really how I had the opportunity. It's really just been a sort of bootstrapped thing where we built it out pretty much ourselves."

Since then, Southdown has opened other locations in Glen Cove, Oyster Bay, and Northport. The chain also expects to open a Patchogue location this fall.

His mission, he told Patch, is to bring artisanal coffee to the whole island.

"Long Island is very underserved in terms of true specialty coffee shops," Boccard said. "You can go not too far in the city and get a pretty good cup of coffee on every block. On Long Island, you could be driving half an hour to get a good cup."

The coffee chain prides themselves on sourcing coffee from a variety of countries around the world, its website says, with an emphasis on supporting a supply chain "which values the people and environments that produce great coffee."

Each location offers a variety of caffeinated drinks such as pour overs, drip coffee, cappuccinos, espresso, cold brew, matcha, and specialty lattes. It also features a wide array of food items, such as pastries, egg dishes, salads, and sandwiches.

Customers can also order coffee beans in bulk.

"We've put a ton of effort into becoming great at what we do," said Boccard. "I think roasting and preparing coffee is a specialty of ours, that we do as well as anybody out there. And so bringing that to different towns on Long Island is our mission."

Boccard said that Southdown Coffee immediately felt welcome in the Port Jefferson community.

"We really hit the ground running. The first day we were open, we didn't even announce it until halfway through the day. And we had people coming in the door," said Boccard. "It feels like we've been there forever."

To learn more about Southdown Coffee, click here.