The HB Gold Bar by Hogg Batch in St. Pete. All images courtesy of Hogg Batch.
Craft coffee roaster Hogg Batch Coffee is setting a high standard with its first cafe in St. Petersburg, Florida, called the HB Gold Bar.
Elevated both stylistically and physically, the cafe is up the stairs from the Grand Central Brewhouse taproom and pub just west of downtown, right across the street from the coffee company’s roastery.
The 2,500-square-foot coffee bar includes open-air seating on an outdoor terrace overlooking Central Avenue, while the inside offers a refined setting for enjoying drinks made from barrel-aged and other carefully sourced coffees.
Long wooden tables and countertops and smoothly curved seating are balanced by the exposed industrial ceiling and concrete floors. Abundant natural light is augmented by vintage industrial pendants holding Edison bulbs, with their glow reflecting off the powder-coated matte black, shiny brass and brushed steel at the bar.
“Our vision for the Gold Bar was to blend modern luxury with grounded intention,” David Hogg, who founded Hogg Batch with his twin brother, Duane Hogg, told DCN. “The design invites curiosity. Our bar space is very open and encourages an engaging experience. Everything is designed to slow you down and immerse you in a curated coffee tasting experience that nods to the intimacy of a cocktail bar but grounded in our roots as a specialty roaster.”
Coffees for the shop, wholesale customers and other channels are roasted on a custom gold-colored, 10-kilo Ambex roaster that David Hogg said is “our pride and joy, affectionately named Gold Soul.”
Green coffee samples are roasted in an Ikawa roaster, while a 1-kilo Mill City Roasters machine is used to dial in profiles of purchased coffees before they go into the Ambex. The roasting facility started opening its doors for events and tastings about 1.5 years ago, though the new bar represents the company’s first full-service cafe.
“The Gold Bar is our innovation platform. Many of our newest and most experimental coffees are debuted exclusively there first, whether it’s a single-origin aged in Sambuca barrels or a nitro-fermented microlot from Peru,” Duane Hogg told DCN. “Some remain exclusive to the Gold Bar, available only by the cup. Others become limited-release bags later but always begin here.”
A 2-group Nuova Simonelli Appia Life Compact espresso machine anchors espresso service. Cold coffees are served by the bottle and on tap, and signature drinks — both on and off menu — include concoctions such as the Limoncello, an Ethiopian coffee aged in honey wine barrels, cold-steeped with fresh lemon peel and finished with house lemon syrup.
The Gold Bar also includes a pourover program, with brews coming courtesy of a small fleet of XBloom Studio automated pourover machines.
“It’s precision-controlled and offers the perfect format for showcasing our small-lot and experimental coffees with ritual and intention,” Duane Hogg said. “We don’t do batch brew, by choice. Everything is brewed to order.”
With more than a month in the books, the Hogg Brothers said the response from guests has been strong and overwhelmingly positive.
“Customers are connecting deeply with the concept, and the support from the community has been humbling,” David Hogg said. “Next, we’re focused on deepening the experience. More collaborations, refined pairings, and showcasing new coffees that push the boundaries of post-harvest and flavor expression. Long term, we absolutely see this concept scaling. This is just the beginning of what the Gold Bar could be, both here in Florida and potentially beyond.”
HB Gold Bar is located on the 2nd Floor at 2340 Central Ave in St. Petersburg.
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Howard Bryman
Howard Bryman is the associate editor of Daily Coffee News by Roast Magazine. He is based in Portland, Oregon.
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