A Classic In The Making

Classic Coffee is remaking the concept of brewed coffee and espresso in Charleston. At their soft opening recently, owners Jeff Corbett and Winter Fox were delighted at the enthusiastic reception they received. Some Avondale neighbors even came up and said thank-you and goodbye before leaving. That sort of thing just doesn’t happen at national coffee chains. Then again, Classic Coffee isn’t meant to resemble a bland, drive-by experience in any way.
“Coffee tastes its freshest when ground closest to the consumption date,” says Corbett. “We buy 100 pound bags of the freshest beans possible from all over the world. They are roasted in small batches, in-house, on a top-of-the-line Diedrich machine. When people try our drinks, they can taste the difference.”
Corbett and Fox are film industry veterans with a friendship that’s going 15 years strong. Corbett grew up on James Island, Fox in Mount Pleasant. The two met on the set of the 2000 Mel Gibson revolutionary war movie The Patriot. Over the next decade, they would see each other on occasional projects before reconnecting on the set of Army Wives.
Due to notoriously long hours, coffee is as ubiquitous as cameras on filming sets. Not surprisingly, Corbett’s and Fox’s conversations often gravitated to how they could elevate Charleston’s coffee scene. They agreed fresh-roasting the highest quality seeds and a great location would be the two main attractions. Corbett immersed himself in procuring beans and roasting science, while Fox scouted locations and honed top-notch barista skills at Downtown’s Kudu Coffee.
On a tip that a space neighboring Al Di La was available in the Avondale neighborhood, Fox seized the opportunity last summer. For the next eight months, an ensemble cast of friends and family helped bring the café to life as Corbett and Fox waited for all the paperwork to be approved. Corbett’s brothers helped with construction; his son-in-law provided leftover flooring to panel the bar. Mollie Howie and John Fenin create the woodwork of the wainscoting and interior tables. David Holt designed the logo under Fox’s direction. Richard Krish created a unique suspended art gallery. It spares the wall of holes, but best of all, it creates an eye-catching visual rhythm for customers. All artwork receives a customized hanging arrangement; no two displays will ever be the same. The current display features photography by Charleston native Kaylee Iris.
Originally, the name was “Classic Coffee & Jazz Café”, but there was no space to host bands. It was trimmed down to “Classic Coffee.” During the day, jazz and pop standards pipe in from an online station. There is free Wi-Fi, leather couches, and indoor and outdoor dinette seating.
Classic’s menu features breves, cappuccinos, lattes, mochas, macchiatos (caramel and regular), and a chai tea latte. The Con Panna is a dollop of house-made whipped cream with a shot of espresso poured through it. Other unique espresso drinks include the highly-concentrated Ristretto, the less-concentrated Lungo, and the Cortado, which is half espresso and half steamed milk. For espresso drinks, customers choose their shots: dopio (double), triplo (triple), and quad (four).
Fresh-roasted and brewed coffee comes in a House Blend, the full-bodied Sunrise Breakfast, the creamy yet cocoa-finished Mocha Blend, and the smooth and light Avondale. Any coffee can be served iced, lattes can be served iced, and there is also single origin coffee available. All coffees come in 12-ounce regular, 16-ounce medium, and 20-ounce large sizes.
Non-coffee drinks include hot cocoa and a variety of hot teas. On the cold side, they offer frappés in classic, mocha, vanilla, caramel, and cookies-and-cream flavors. Corbett says the frappés and smoothies start with shaved ice. When the smoothie or frappé ingredients are blended in, the result is an ice-cold beverage with extremely smooth texture bursting with flavor. No crunchy ice chips here!
For food, Corbett and Fox sought out local star kitchens James Island’s Mudd Pie Girl Bakery and Downtown’s Saffron. The dessert case will include fresh pastries, muffins, quiches, savories, croissants, cookies, and brownies. For meals, wraps and salad-style sandwiches (i.e., chicken, tuna), including vegetarian options, will be available.
Corbett says, “We are a community coffee shop. We named our first house blend after our neighborhood. We’ve provided coffee to Mellow Mushroom for meetings and consulted Strawberry Blonde’s stylists for taste-tests. We look forward to being a part of Avondale’s seasonal festivities.”
Classic Coffee is open Monday–Friday 6 a.m.–8 p.m., Saturdays 7 a.m.–8 p.m., and Sundays 10:30 a.m.–6 p.m. It’s located at 27 Magnolia Dr. For more information, call 501-7859 or find them on Facebook, see  “classiccoffeeavondale.”