Cold Beer’s patio and adjacent beer garden seating will be available for patron use. Photo by Andrew Thomas Lee.Atlanta BeltLine-adjacent office workers and residents, along with walkers and runners, will soon have a new place to satisfy their craving for fast-crafted coffee, sandwiches and pastries when Atlanta-based specialty roaster Docent Coffee teams up with Chef Kevin Gillespie’s Cold Beer to create a walk-up coffee shop, opening Saturday, Oct. 16. This limited-time offering is one of several steps Gillespie is taking to assure Cold Beer is providing what Atlantans in that area want.
The DOCENT x CB fast-crafted concept aims at combining the convenience, speed and relative affordability of fast food with the creative and quality-driven nature of the craft food and beverage space. Occupying Cold Beer’s existing walk-up bar area, located under its covered/heated patio area overlooking the eastside BeltLine trail, the new concept will serve Docent’s full coffee and tea program as well as a curated menu of grab ‘n go breakfast and lunch fare crafted by Gillespie and his team.
On the beverage front, Docent will have a full-scale program offering all of the traditional specialty coffee classics (drip, espresso, americanos, cortados, cappuccinos, lattes, etc.) as well as a couple of non-traditional drinks such as frozen iced coffee and boozy Irish coffee slushie. And of course, DOCENT x CB also will be offering Cold Beer’s beers on tap all day.
“Docent’s approach to coffee is almost the same as mine with food. So it just made sense to work with each other to bring something different to the BeltLine,” says Gillespie, who tapped Docent back in 2019 to provide coffee for his restaurants (and develop his own signature blend). “We both feel that great coffee and great food shouldn’t be relegated to just snobby slow-serve establishments.”
With regards to the food, Gillespie serves up breakfast items, such as:
- Bacon waffle wrap with salted pecans and apple butter
- Homemade cinnamon rolls
- Chicken chorizo breakfast burrito
Additionally, lunch items like homemade paninis and the C.O.S. (Closed On Sunday) chicken sandwich also will be offered.
“We want to prove to people that delicious well-crafted coffee and food can be had in the same amount of time you sit in a drive-thru for something that’s far less appealing and that you don’t have to sacrifice quality for convenience,” says Richards.
While Cold Beer’s patio and adjacent beer garden seating will be available to patrons during the hours of operation, the concept is geared more toward those looking to quickly grab a coffee or a bite to eat on the way into work, and/or as they continue their journey down the BeltLine toward their final destination.
