New Cafe Brings Jamaica to Powder Springs

POWDER SPRINGS — To Powder Springs local Allen Spain, the recent opening of Sangster’s Cafe in downtown was “a dream come true.”

Since the Jamaican coffee shop opened on June 15, Spain has been coming nearly everyday, typically enjoying a triple shot of espresso while he works.

“I’ve been dreaming, praying for a coffee shop around here,” Spain said.

The cafe, owned by Bindley and Melissa Sangster, roasts and serves coffee from their family farm in Jamaica’s Blue Mountains.

“All my life I’ve known coffee, (starting) from the plant,” Bindley Sangster said.

His father established the farm in 1981. Seven years later, Hurricane Gilbert devastated the farm, but Sangster was determined to revive it.

In 1994, Sangster left Jamaica to join the United States Air Force, but he knew he “always wanted to get back to the farm.

“I always told my dad I wanted to start the farm back,” he said. “He’d say, ‘you’re too far, it’s going to be too challenging.’”

Finally, in 2015, Sangster received his father’s blessing to take over the farm and began its revival. He went to Costa Rica to study lunar agriculture and how to feed and treat the plants based on the lunar schedule. Sangster also ensured that the farm only harvested coffee at its ripest, when sucrose levels were very high.

“Even though Jamaican Blue Mountain coffee on its own was highly regarded, I knew that I was doing things better than everybody else,” Sangster said. “Because of all of the hard effort I put into the farm, I wanted people to appreciate it.”

After changing the practices on the farm, Sangster made the decision to stop selling cherries to co-ops and instead focus on creating a brand to carry the coffee: Sangster’s Coffee.

The brand was specifically named in honor of Sangster’s grandfather and the second prime minister of Jamaica, Sir Donald Sangster.

“When Singapore became independent of the crown, right behind Jamaica, Prime Minister Lee Kuan Yew came to Jamaica and took the model that my grandfather had written and built Singapore off of it,” Sangster said. “He’s known not just nationally but internationally so it was a no brainer we call it Sangster’s Coffee.”

Even the company’s logo reflects Sangster’s dedication to family. The coffee tree with five branches intertwining represents him, his wife and their son and two twin daughters.

“It’s our family bringing coffee to the world,” Sangster said. “Every one of them has been a part of the process. They all know how to roast coffee (and) how to serve coffee. I want this for them, when I’m gone. I want them to know that Sangster’s is us.”

The couple, who live in Johns Creek, opened their first cafe last year in SoHo, New York and have since decided to bring their blend of Jamaican coffee and culture to Powder Springs.

“I realized we had the farm, we had the processing, we had the roasting, we had the finished product but like anybody in the culinary space, you get your greatest sense of accomplishment by looking at the consumer once they’ve tried (your product),” Sangster said.

The decision to open the cafe in an historic 100-year-old bank building was influenced by their relationship with Georgia Aquarium CEO Brian Davis, who owns several other properties on Marietta Street, and a study by Georgia Institute of Technology, said Sangster. The study, done in collaboration with the city’s economic development team, found that Powder Springs was in need of a “quality coffee shop.”

“We didn’t do this by happenstance. They saw the need,” Sangster said. “There was a desert here and we’ve heard that echoed by everybody that’s come in.”

Like Spain, many customers have commented to Sangster about how they’ve been “waiting for something like this.”

“We have religious followers. We have people that come here three times a day,” Sangster said.

Hassan Alqahhaar of Powder Springs thinks the cafe will attract more visitors to the downtown.

“We need to bring people down here. The only time people come down is when they have those huge festivals (at Thurman Springs Park),” Alqahhaar said.

Terri D’Abate, who lives nearby, agreed that the area “needed something like this.

“The dessert place was great, but we needed somewhere for lunch,” D’Abate said.

As she was leaving, D’Abate exclaimed that the ham and cheese croissant she ordered was “the bomb.” The croissant was one of several pastries brought in from Marietta and Roswell bakery, Douceur de France.

The decision to bring in French pastries was an homage to Sangster’s mother, who was born in the Brittany region of France and died when he was just 8-years-old.

The cafe also offers a taste of Jamaica with beef patties from Royal Caribbean Bakery in Stone Mountain. Sangster said he polled the Jamaican community to find the best patty in the Atlanta area and the votes were unanimous.

At the moment, Sangster said the blueberry Danish has been a top-seller, often selling out in the morning. As for drinks, local favorites during the hot weather have been the cold brew and various iced lattes, although Sangster said, as a purist, he’s particularly fond of the Jamaican drip.

His hope for the future is to become “a staple,” that even in the event a cafe like Starbucks opens next door, everyone will still come to Sangster’s.

“We’re family owned and operated. We’re veteran owned. We’re minority owned… if you want milk and ice, go to Starbucks, if you want the best coffee and pastries and patties, come to Sangster’s,” Sangster said.

Watching the cafe’s quick expansion from New York to Georgia has been “surreal,” said Sangster. The couple plan to open another location on Aug. 1 in the Bank of America building in downtown Atlanta and later hope to expand to St. Simons.

While the cafe is still on “a learning curve,” the Sangsters plan to be heavily involved in the day-to-day operations at the Powder Springs location. Sangster said they are currently working on editing the menu and the store’s hours of operation as they learn more about their customers.

Sangster’s Cafe, located on 4460 Marietta Street near Thurman Springs Park, is open from 7 a.m. to 7 p.m., seven days a week.