Van Zandt Coffee

if you're the kind of person who ends up driving state highway 19 north of town and needs a reason to stop, van zandt coffee gives you one. it's a roaster, which means the coffee you're drinking was probably processed here or close to it, not shipped in pre-ground from somewhere anonymous. athens, tx doesn't have a glut of places doing this, so the fact that this one has built a real following says something about consistency. you don't stumble into that kind of reputation without getting the sourcing and the roast profile right, repeatedly. the address puts you out on the highway rather than a walkable downtown block, so plan accordingly, drive out, and order something black to taste what they're actually doing with the beans.