At Stumptown New Orleans, You Can Drink a Duane Sorenson

Stumptown Coffee Roasters photo by Rush Jagoe.

Stumptown New Orleans — the coffee coffee company’s first shop outside of the Portland, Seattle, Los Angeles and New York markets — is scheduled to open Saturday, April 2, next to the Ace Hotel at 610 Carondelet St. in the Warehouse District.

It’s the company’s first new store since being acquired by Peet’s Coffee & Tea, but is perhaps more notable for the fact that the bar was designed primarily around cold brew. “We kept asking ourselves, what could a Cold Brew-focused coffee bar look like?” Stumptown Retail Vice President Matt Lounsbury said in a company announcement of the opening this week. “In our wildest imagination, what could we serve and how could we serve it?”

Stumptown Coffee Roasters photo by Rush Jagoe.

A defining element of the cold-brew-centric design is the seven-headed brass and marble tap with marble handles, a piece of equipment that was custom-made to echo the company’s vision for a European-style brass tapper, and which is complemented by Belgian beer-style stemware that will be used for the shop’s signature cold brew concoctions.

The base for those concoctions is being called “The Cold Shot,” a cold-brewed concentrate of the company’s most popular espresso blend, Hair Bender, that is infused with nitrogen resulting in what the company describes as the equivalent of a “cold, creamy shot of espresso.” The signature drinks debuting at the shop are inspired by quintessentially Southern cold drinks such as the mint julep (Stumptown’s caffeinated version is called the “Endless Summer”) and the Arnold Palmer (“The Duane Sorenson”).

Stumptown Coffee Roasters photo by Rush Jagoe.

Of course, there will be hot coffee, too. Hair Bender pulled from a brass-plated La Marzocco provides the foundation for a full espresso menu, with a Modbar for automated pourovers of any Stumptown-roasted single-origin or blend on offer.

For Saturday’s grand opening party, Stumptown is hosting a brass band performance from the The Roots of Music, a local nonprofit that promotes the city’s musical and cultural heritage while empowering youth through music education, academic support and mentorship. So if you’re going to drink a Duane, it’s as good a day as any.