Sip a slow-brewed Vietnamese coffee while you pick your next houseplant at new shop

Plenty of cafes adorn their counters and windowsills with foliage, but how about a coffee shop that is literally inside a plant shop?

Peek into Jade & Co. at the corner of Sixth Avenue and Junett in Tacoma to discover a teeny walk-up window — menu to your left, coffee beans and accoutrements to your right. Everywhere: pothos and philodendrons, sansevieria and jades.

Then say hello to McKenzie Brentin, a 20-year-old barista who opened Terra-Cotta Coffee & Tea in early September.

The shop exclusively serves Vietnamese coffee, slow-brewed using a traditional phin — a cross between a French press and a pour-over. Though smaller, the metal tool resembles a frothing pitcher, with two extra pieces: a perforated disc that rests on top of the serving cup and a perforated press placed inside the actual phin.

This brewing technique does not require a paper filter, meaning it’s especially sustainable, but it does take time. Be prepared to wait at least 5 minutes as the coffee blooms with hot water and then slowly drip, drip, drips into your cup.

“This is going to take longer than you’re used to,” Brentin sometimes must warn unassuming customers.

It’s the most popular brewing method in Vietnam, where the coffee is rich and viscous, often made more so through the indulgent additions of condensed milk, corn syrup or butter.

Brentin doesn’t list butter on her menu, but she does brew a delightful ube latte, one of her most popular cups. Tinkering and customer feedback led her to trim the sugar, yielding a just-right taste of purple yam and strong coffee.

The specialty menu includes familiar offerings like a white or dark mocha and a dirty chai, as well as modern recipes with rose water or Nutella. Milk defaults to condensed, but you can opt for regular, oat or almond. To try the style in its purest form, start with a straight Vietnamese coffee — 4 ounces for $3.25.

Of course, Vietnamese restaurants usually serve coffee, but here the beans are carefully chosen and ground fresh. Think of it as the divide, of cost and taste, between Folgers and your favorite local roaster.

Brentin primarily uses three roasts from Nguyen Coffee Supply in Brooklyn, an importer and roaster owned by a Vietnamese American woman named Sahra Nguyen. Only Brazil and Colombia grow more coffee than Vietnam, yet it’s often disregarded because most of the production is in robusta — higher in caffeine than Arabica beans and harder to grow well. Nguyen sources only single-origin beans and buys directly from farmers.

At Terra-Cotta, you can choose the right varietal for your tastes (and caffeine affinity). Let Brentin guide you.

“True Grit” will offer the fullest robusta experience, while “Loyalty” combines Arabica and robusta beans for a little bit less caffeine. The 100 percent Arabica “Moxy” will be most akin to other craft coffee roasts.

For pour-overs, she also offers a few roasts from Seattle’s 25-year-old Caffe Vita.

Note that due to the brew and building limits (no ice machine), Terra-Cotta serves only hot coffee, alongside a handful of steeped teas, bottled lemonades from Paunchy Elephant out of Marysville, and pastries by Tacoma’s favorite Pop-Tart baker Spilled Butter Desserts.

VIETNAMESE COFFEE AT TERRA COTTA TACOMA

Educating and connecting with the community is precisely what attracted Brentin to coffee culture — she worked for several years at the family-owned Forza in University Place (now a Cutter’s Point) and still works part-time at the Anthem in Point Ruston.

These moments also solidify the shop’s decision to not buy an espresso machine.

A few blocks west on Sixth Avenue, Valhalla has been roasting since 2004, and east at State Street, Bluebeard since 2011. In other words, they’ve got espresso and pour-over down.

“How do I make something different and special?” she and Jade & Co. owner Jennie Serrano, who is part-Vietnamese and provided many of the recipes, asked.

The shop-within-a-shop idea arose early this summer, as Serrano was preparing to open her Sixth Avenue store after four years in University Place. The former Indian market had commercial kitchen equipment and could be permitted by the health department. She put out a feeler on Instagram for someone wanting to test the waters of running their own business.

Brentin, who grew up in University Place, was a regular at Jade & Co. Perhaps she didn’t anticipate owning her own business so soon, but her experience as a Coffee Fest judge last fall and her years at Forza taught her it was possible.

“I saw how they loved the community,” she said. “It really inspired me.”

So she studied the art of this style and set out to build a powerful woman-owned business that supports other woman-owned businesses.

She subleases the petite area from Serrano, which keeps costs reasonable.

Currently the space blends directly into the plant shop, distinguished only by terra-cotta colored walls and a display shelf of beans by-the-bag and brewing tools, including phins and Japanese pour-over kits. Down the line, Serrano and Brentin will add a couple of tables and chairs for customers to relax amid the plants.

On “Thirsty Thursdays,” buy a drink and a plant for 10 percent off both purchases.

To my fellow plant enthusiasts: Jade & Co. hosts succulent workshops (virtual for now) and will drill a hole in any pot for $1.

TERRA COTTA COFFEE & TEA AT JADE & CO.

▪ 3001 6th Ave., Tacoma, terracottacoffeeandtea.com

▪ Hours: Tuesday-Saturday 10 a.m.-5 p.m., Sunday 10 a.m.-3 p.m.

▪ Details: order in-person, or order pickup online

This story was originally published October 25, 2020 at 7:05 AM.