Ironclad Coffee Roasters opening its own coffee shop in Shockoe

A snowy day is pretty much the perfect day to let you know about a new coffee shop that local roasters Ironclad Coffee Roasters will be opening. The cafe will be located at 1805 E. Grace Street and hopes to be open in May.

Ironclad has been roasting for two years out of Scott’s Addition and came to life after Ryan spent time in Ireland and experienced different methods of roasting and flavors of coffee than traditionally found in the U.S. The business has had tremendous success and their coffee is seen in restaurants and stores throughout the area.  But there was a next step which they outlined on their blog:

We need a venue of our own to highlight the most brilliant coffees that come into our roastery and to showcase magnificent coffee experiences through those special lots. It’s the next step in our company’s efforts to close the gap between Richmond’s love affair with coffee and Richmond’s love affair with beer.  🙂

The building they found for this venue dates back to 1882 and served as Station 2 a hook and ladder fire station. No doubt many a pot of coffee was drunk in the spot.

The crew of Station 2

Ryan O’Rourke and his wife used to live near the old building and on their evening walks would dream of turning it into a cafe. That dream is set to become a reality.

Dreams, however, aren’t cheap and they’ve started a crowdfunding campaign.

$25,000 is the goal we have set for this campaign.  The bulk of that will be utilized in the buildout and in purchasing the equipment needed for brewing delicious Ironclad-roasted coffees in the most effective way.  We have seen other businesses raise tens of thousands of dollars with incredibly meager investor perks, so we’re confident our generous perk package will be the boost needed to get us up and over our campaign goal!

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The top tier perk for supporting the campaign is definitely worth pointing out. A trip to the origin of your morning cup of joe.