A new coffee bar in Rosslyn is set to open “very soon,” according to the cafe’s owner.
Construction is almost complete on the Central Coffee Bar in the first floor of the soon-to-redevelop RCA building at 1901 N. Moore Street, with workers starting to move furniture in. Owner Mehmet Coskun declined to give an exact timeframe, but said it should be open “very soon.”
Coskun said the spot will be open from 6 a.m. to 10 p.m. each day, serving coffee, pastries and the like in the morning and then hosting happy hour from 5-7 p.m. He said the coffee, provided in partnership with a roastery in Annapolis, will be from the best beans available.
“We will have very fresh coffee from Ethiopia, Central America, Colombia, Mexico and we will have seasonal beans, so whatever the country harvests, we’ll make sure we’re getting the best beans,” he said. “I’m doing a lot of tastings, so we will give something different than just Starbucks for people to at least try.”
Inside, Central Coffee will have leather sofas and a 60-inch electrical fireplace to make the space of just over 2,000 square feet feel intimate. Coskun said they had initially planned on having a smaller, 1,500-square-foot space, but expanded the plans after conversations with representatives from the Rosslyn Business Improvement District.
“We have a very cozy space where you walk in and you already feel like you want to sit down and do work or pick up your laptop and enjoy,” Coskun said. “It has that cozy environment with leather couches and with that fireplace built in and that open space. The whole thing is an open space.”
Coskun, a Pentagon City resident, said he wanted to open the coffee shop to give Arlington a locally-run option beyond international giant Starbucks. He added that the company could look to expand in the county too, depending on the success of its first location.
“We do want to be Arlington County’s coffee shop,” Coskun said. “We’re looking for a second location somewhere in Clarendon, and we want to continue to grow in Arlington before we grow anywhere else. We are going to be the local guys.”