A new brew: College gets a sweet (briar) roast

When the folks at Sweet Briar College’s Daisy’s Café set out to create a signature flavor of coffee, they never imagined just how serendipitous the final result would be.

They’ve partnered with Lynchburg’s Rosetta Coffee Company to create the roast, which is grown by a female plantation owner in the Blue Mountains of Southern India. The decaf roast comes from another female grower in Peru.

“I think it was just meant to be,” Steve Edwards, director of auxiliary services at the college, says about the connection between two female plantation owners and the all-women’s institution.

The resulting blend, called the Sweet Briar Roast, is “smooth. It doesn’t leave a bitter taste in your mouth,” says café manager Lynn Lewis.

Adds café assistant Caleb Taylor, “It’s just a clean, crisp taste.

“Before, you could taste the coffee, but now you enjoy the taste of the coffee.”

The coffee is roasted at Rosetta every week, and the Daisy’s staff grinds the beans for each order.

The café, inside the college bookstore, also got a makeover.

Previously called the Book Shop Café, it reopened last month as Daisy’s, named for the daughter of Sweet Briar founder Indiana Fletcher Williams.

“Quite honestly, I didn’t think the coffee we were serving (before) was representative of the kind of institution we are,” Edwards says, adding that he wanted Daisy’s to be “a neat little eclectic coffee shop.”

Out are convenience store items like candy bars and microwaveable hot dogs and hamburgers.

In? Fresh sandwiches — Daisy’s Homemade Chicken Salad is a specialty, Lewis says — as well as baked goods, smoothies and specialty coffee from Rosetta.

Lewis says they re-arranged the furniture to make for a more inviting atmosphere. Cozy leather couches sit near windows hung with new coffee-colored drapes.

“We were looking (to create) a warm, inviting place, where people could come and enjoy a great cup of coffee,” he says. “Not just a cup of coffee, but a great cup of coffee.”

They hope the new look and menu will attract more than just the students.

“Our doors are open to anyone,” Taylor said. “We’re trying to reach out far and wide.”

If You’re Going
WHAT: Daisy’s Café
WHERE: Sweet Briar College
HOURS: 8 a.m. to 10 p.m. Monday to Thursday; 8 a.m. to 5 p.m. Friday; 10 a.m. to 4 p.m. Saturday; 2 to 10 p.m. Sunday; call for summer hours
PRICES: Sandwiches are $4.25; coffees are anywhere from $1.25 to $5.50; a bag of the Sweet Briar Roast is $12.99
INFO: (434) 381-6928