Paul Joffe Brews Up A Kinder World At Flying Church Coffee
Great Barrington's newest coffee house serves Joffe's special dark brew — and sweetness without calories.
When you need a jolt of caffeine and some positive energy, head over to Flying Church Coffee in Great Barrington, Massachusetts. Both are produced by Paul Joffe, the owner/coffee roaster, historic building renovator and Flying Church owner. We should add he is also a master at exuding wit, heart, and the ability to find the good in everything and everyone. He spreads that joy to all who enter his world, so his happy place can become yours.
The little yellow cottage at 200 Main Street that is Flying Church Coffee looks like it’s been a Great Barrington landmark forever, but that’s by design. Joffe “purpose built” it to house his coffee emporium, which officially opened July 9. It’s just big enough for people to chat a bit as they wait for their orders to come up. And by chatting, we mean engaging with Joffe, who is happy to tell you that he began roasting his own blend of dark roast coffee to keep his Columbian wife happy. “I was very lucky to meet my wife,” he says. “I want to keep her forever, and I figured if I made her really good coffee, she’d have to stick around.”
Sixteen years married, he’s perfected the art of coffee making. He'll tell you how his sweet, dark beans are roasted in small batches every day for ultimate freshness, the key to deep flavor without bitterness. He’ll explain why he features crunchy Scottish ice — little sparkly pellets with holes in them — because they blend better into frozen drinks. (What makes it Scottish? The ice machine is called a Scotsman.) And he’ll interrupt himself to greet his customers and offer a cup of homemade whipped cream to a puppy in the arms of a regular. (Whipped Cream Wednesday, by the way is a thing: free whipped cream on any drink.) The vibes he puts out come back in the constant traffic in and out of the shop. "There hasn't been one rude person coming in," he says.
For such a small place, the menu is large, starting with drip coffee and going into all of the variations you’d expect, in sizes ranging from 8 ounces up to 24. Also offered are “all-fruit” smoothies and “super-sour” frozen pink lemonade (secret ingredient: a whole lemon blended in), a popular new hibiscus iced tea, and new concoctions appearing frequently. A lunchtime offering is the “ooey-gooey” Gouda grilled cheese sandwich on sourdough.
The diminutive coffee house/community center is surrounded by rocks, evidence of Joffe’s interest in rock geology (he’ll tell you about the significance of rock formations in the area eons ago). "You don't realize how big the rocks are here," he says. "People come here for bouldering." Instead of grass beneath the tables outside, there are pebbles, and next door, the Flying Church ”park” has been deemed the Great Barrington Rock Sanctuary, a combination of rocks left by the renovation of the building and some from people who donate their collections. (Note: A little deadpan humor might be necessary to appreciate the rock sanctuary. See video below.)
Great Barrington Rock Sanctuary receives its first donation.
As you might expect, Joffe's background is varied. He's had his own morning show at a radio station in Key West, and did some standup in New York. In this most recent phase of his life, Joffe has been a renovator of historic buildings. In 2011 he finished a church restoration in Kingston, New York, a former Methodist Church that became the Hudson Valley Chapel. He also renovated six historic buildings in Brooklyn. Flying Church Coffee is an extension of the Flying Church next door, which Joffe purchased about seven years ago, so named because the building had been hoisted over six feet to replace the foundation. Now it has four retail spaces on the ground floor (including Pixie Boulangerie) and the main floor is waiting for a restaurateur or performance organization to take up residence.
But for now, java is Joffe's full-time thing, and you’ll find him happily serving, greeting customers, and singing the praises of his staff and his tenants. (Check out the acknowledgements on the website: a thank you to every person who was involved in constructing the Flying Church and Flying Church coffee.) He's also scheduling special events now and again. Put this on your calendar: the Great Barrington Rock Sanctuary is the Official Sponsor of the November 8, 2022 total lunar eclipse. Joffe says there will be a special deep, dark roast coffee in recognition of the darkness of the eclipse.
“Nobody else was claiming sponsorship,” he says. “Who’s gonna yell at me, the moon?”
Joffe with two of his valued employees, Luisa Capetillo and Toni Bellamy
It’s easy to see why there’s a rumor that he’s the world’s best landlord. He may also be one of the world’s sunniest people, and if you find it hard to believe a person like Joffe really exists, maybe you need to make a visit to that little yellow cottage on Main Street for your latte.
