Vibrant Downtown Attractive to New Coffeehouse Owner

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By John Burton
ATLANTIC HIGHLANDS – Bob Hespe likes his coffee. And he likes people who like coffee, especially the coffee he now sells on First Avenue.
“I like it, obviously, as a product,” said Hespe, as he warms his hand around a cup of his Sumatra blend, in his newly established 1st Cup coffeehouse. “It’s also the social experience” of such locations as his. “It just appeals to me.”
“I think quality coffee has become part of our lifestyle,” he said.
Hespe opened 1st Cup, 96 First Ave., in the heart of the community’s commercial district, just a couple of weeks ago and has already been developing a clientele. “It feels great to be in a town with a lot of energy going on,” he said of Atlantic Highlands’ atmosphere.
Hespe, a 56-year-old Rumson resident, had opened his first location, the Upstairs Coffeehouse, in 1992 on the second floor of the then newly established Dublin House restaurant and pub in Red Bank. In 1995, he closed that location and then opened the Java Stop, on River Road in Fair Haven, operating that popular spot until he sold it in 2002.
From there, Hespe had been involved in a number of things, most recently working with his wife Karen, on their Stirling Hands Gardening, a modest landscaping and gardening business.
But 1st Cup is giving Hespe another opportunity to provide a place for warm – and cold beverages – other treats and maybe a little conversation and socializing.
“It is still a very strong people business,” he said.
“A good coffeehouse can become a center of a community,” he said believing Atlantic Highlands is an ideal place for this effort.
The Bayshore community with a vibrant, eclectic population would seem to embrace what Hespe called “The New Urbanism” flourishing around the country. By that, he meant, “small towns that have good restaurants, a music scene,” places that are attracting the millennial generation – young couples who want to live in active areas combining residential and commercial, and often easy access to mass transit: places like Atlantic Highlands, which has a busy arts environment.
“I think it’s part of the appeal of Atlantic Highlands,” he said. “It’s an old town with new energy.”
There are other places to get coffee, of course, and Hespe acknowledged “other places have stepped up their game.” But the formula for success, he thinks, is fairly simple. “To do it right you really have to be hands on,” be here and provide quality products and top-flight service, he explained.
For coffee, “First you start with a quality fresh bean,” he said. And then his roaster starts with fresh beans and will only roast small, micro-batches at a time, to ensure it’s fresh when it’s used. Hespe likes to use a Sumatra bean, relishing the “complexity and depth of the flavor.”
After talking about coffee for a bit, he breaks to explain “just as you would talk good wine or craft beer you can talk about coffee.”
Along with the coffee 1st Cup also offers a selection of baked goods, fresh muffins, cookies, bagels, scones and biscotti, with the location securing some of the items from New York City’s Balthazar Bakery’s wholesale division and some from Chloe’s Kitchen, Rumson. The shop has set up a smoothie bar, which has become rather popular, seemingly to Hespe’s surprise.
What he’s not surprised about is that his location, as his other sites in the past, has begun to gain a following as word-of-mouth begins to circulate. “If you have a good cup, good service and a good town,” he noted, “you have a good business.”
Hespe’s 1st Cup is open 6 a.m. to 6 p.m. everyday and he plans to extend hours for the summer season and considering featuring live music on occasion.