Brew on Broadway in Beechview is as much as about the neighborhood as it is about coffee. It's a hub for events, like tamale-making classes from a local Mexican grocer, meetings with local electeds and a monthly BYOB trivia night.
The venue is the first from Project Coffeehouse, a new local venture which opens coffee shops to improve the surrounding neighborhood. Brew is run by a board of directors based in Beechview, and operated by its sister shop, Brookline's Cannon Coffee.
"The whole idea is to put these shops into striving communities that are an underdog, and serve as a catalyst to spur growth," says manager André Costello. Prior to Brew's opening in June, Costello notes, Beechview had little in the way of gathering spaces or new retail along its main corridor.
The shop brews fair-trade coffee from the Indiana, Pa., microroaster Commonplace Coffee, and offers other caffeinated drinks like a traditional espresso-based macchiato and cortado. Costello's specialty is a brown sugar-caramel cortado, which uses the aforementioned flavors with espresso, steamed milk and half-and-half.
Brew also sells baked goods from Annamarie's Specialties, in Castle Shannon. Brew offers a cheery interior, complemented by local artwork and walls painted "optimistic yellow."
Which is, after all, the feeling Brew hopes to bring to Beechview. "It makes the community more attractive to people, and [shows] that it has signs of life," Costello says. "We want people to feel optimistic about the community."
1557 Broadway Ave., Beechview. 412-563-6456
