Inside Upstart Revelator Coffee’s First Bar in Downtown Birmingham

Last March, we reported on Revelator Coffee, a New Orleans-based startup with some hefty investment backing and development plans for an upscale retail bar concept throughout the South.

Revelator’s first bar opened late last year in Birmingham, Ala., on the first floor of a downtown mixed-used development called Whitmore Lofts. Shops in Chattanooga, Tenn., and New Orleans are expected to be open by the end of this quarter, and Revelator President Josh Owen recently told us that additional leases have been signed for shops in Nashville, another in Birmingham, Atlanta and Charleston, S.C. Revelator hopes to open seven shops total by the end of this year, Owen says.

Here’s a look at the first Birmingham shop, which occupies approximately 2,000 square feet with a front seating area (a round communal table is not shown in these photos), a retail wall beneath a condiment station and a long bar with separate brewing and ordering stations.

“We are definitely early adopters to downtown Birmingham,” Owen tells Daily Coffee News, “but traffic is steady and we’ve had a lot of repeat business.”

The bar includes a custom 2-group Slayer espresso machine, a lineup of Baratza Forte grinders, Gino glass drippers from NotNeutral and Alpha Dominche Steampunks for tea brewing. Cups and dishes were created by Louisville Stoneware.