AM:FM Dialed In On Multiple Fronts in Rochester, New York

Inside the new AM:FM cafe in Rochester, New York. All images courtesy of AM:FM.

A multifaceted cafe called AM:FM opened late last year in Rochester, New York, focusing on coffee, food and occasional cocktails, with grab-and-go agility or vinyl-enhanced comfort. 

“Our philosophy has been developed around dualities,” AM:FM Founder and Owner Eric Nagle recently told DCN. “Rather than compromising and landing in the middle, we perfect and develop at both ends.” 

Take the food menu: On one end, the shop features a range of quick, hot grab-and-go sandwiches, while other scratch-made sandwiches and house-made crowd-pleasers like pancakes, french toast and mac and cheese are more suited to longer, more relaxed sessions.  

On Friday evenings, the cafe rolls out cocktail service, incorporating coffee into some beverages, such as a hard root beer float made with Countertop Creamery ice cream. 

Inside, the AM:FM space enforces the concept of duality through two diverging paths for customers. 

“If you travel through the cafe on the left hand side, you experience a very linear, bright, almost express lane. You pass by reach-in coolers, a warming box with pre-made sandwiches, and end up at your barista, and can exit at the end through a separate door,” said Nagle. “If you go to the right, there will be tables, and it’s not as bright. It will be much more conducive to gathering.”

Within the coffee program, the focus on quality is singular, although it’s expressed in different ways at the bar. 

“We will surely excite the distinguished taste of an aficionado, and at the same time serve the morning contractor rush on their way to the job site,” said Nagle.

Nagle has been professionally active in coffee for a decade. After studying audio engineering and music production in Manhattan, he returned to his home city of Rochester. From 2010 to 2013, he ran a nightclub called Decibel, while simultaneously raising a young family. He’s since launched other businesses, including Standard Concrete Co., while maintaining connections within the local coffee scene. 

The launch of AM:FM followed Nagle’s acquisition of Rochester’s Aporia Coffee Co., a quality-focused wholesale roasting company that continues to supply beans to businesses such as Locals Only, Ugly Duck Coffee, Caramel Bakery and Bar, Happy Gut Sanctuary, Pandamonium Coffee, Lila’s in the Lobby, Owl House and Strangebird Brewery.

Aporia Coffee Co. Head Roaster Wade Reed continues to lead the roasting operation on a 15-kilogram-capacity Joper machine at an off-site roastery on Dewey Ave.

“Aporia fits into its own duality because as its own separate brand, it is the simplest, purest form of what a coffee can be on its own,” Nagle said. “But for our cafe, it acts as the framework or foundation for someone who may have more adventurous tastes.”

For green coffees, Aporia turns primarily to importers InterAmerican for core coffees, while more niche offerings tend to come from Covoya and Crop to Cup.

“Through our connections at InterAmerican, I’ve been connected with a producer in Colombia who I hope to buy more directly from in the future and create a sustainable relationship,” said Reed. “We have the same kind of opportunity in Peru through a journalist friend of Eric’s who wrote about the coffee trade for Al-Jazeera and met several farmers with whom we’ve been in contact.”

At the cafe, AM:FM dials in roasted coffees through a variety of equipment, including Mahlkönig EK43 grinder, Ceado espresso grinders, Eureka Zenith grinders, a 3-group La Marzocco Strada and a Bunn batch brewer. A 2-group Dalla Corte Icon espresso machine sits prominently at the bar entrance. 

AM:FM is currently planning to open a second location, in nearby Churchville. Situated next to a creek, the shop will be designed as a family-friendly destination, with outdoor activities and ice cream. Nagle said it may offer additional space for more roasting and coffee education. 

AM:FM is located at 45 Euclid Street in Rochester, NY 14604. Comments? Questions? News to share? Contact DCN’s editors here. For all the latest coffee industry news, subscribe to the DCN newsletter.