Local Love: Cafe Kahve Gives You Endless Reasons to Like it a Latte

My name is Katie and I am addicted to coffee shops. In college my secondary residence was Mill Mountain, where on a college budget I sometimes brought my own tea bag (thank you cafeteria) and only ordered a cup of hot water and they never even seemed to mind. My love affair with sitting at a table with a pen, a notebook and a cup of chai runs deep.

So when a cafe comes to town I leap at the chance to give it a taste. Kahve continues to surpass my every hope of what a coffee house should be. It is warm, specializes in handcrafted delicacies and invites you to come in and linger for awhile. You won't find any drink mixes here or food shipped in from faraway frozen lands. They make their bagels, breads, muffins and scones FROM SCRATCH. Every day. You can taste the time and effort as you savor every bite. How many coffee shops can say the same?

Happiness handmade daily.

I dare say it is the best kept secret in the Annapolis area. I love that about it. I want to spread the word about this cafe because not only do I want it to succeed, it deserves to thrive. Joe Valentino opened Kahve two years ago when the opportunity presented itself with the hope of creating a community meeting place. What he has created is so much more and it continues to outdue itself. A 2005 graduate of St. Mary's with a degree in Math, he combines his prior restaurant experience, a background in coffee shop management and prior teaching experience to make Kahve a local favorite. Special requests are welcome, vegetarian options are abound and the coffee is fair trade, organic, local and from one of the greenest roasters in the country. They can cater up to 40 people onsite and up to 100 offsite. Cakes by Rachael provides decadent cupcakes and cake pops (order these for parties and you will have an instant celebration). The weekdays bring a lot to the plate (aside from a melt in your mouth nutella banana sandwich): open mic nights, Bridgette and the band performances, spanish classes and more while the weekends bring homemade doughnuts, french toast and biscuits with gravy (is your mouth watering yet?).

Joe states that the best part of owning a cafe is the "pride in the product. That is the difference between you and someone else." They know exactly where their food comes from, most of it by hand in their kitchen. I recently asked a local Starbucks where their pastries and sandwiches were from. There were four people there working and not one of them knew. Not one.

So how does he do it all? With dedication (90 plus hours a week) and espresso- twelve shots a day. It is working. Kahve won the Capital's 2012 Coffee Madness tournament and was voted the Edgewater Patch's 2012 Reader's Choice Award for best local cup of coffee. When I told him that the only perk (pun intended) that I saw that the local Starbuck's had over them was the drive-thru, a joyous idea for mommas with kids in tow like myself, he said that he would do a curbside service. Breaking news friends: just call ahead with your order, pay with a credit card over the phone or pay by cash (and not need any change back) and they will absolutely deliver it to your car. Wishes can come true.

Kahve's website says it best "It's hard work making everything from scratch, by hand, made to order, but we think you're worth it." Let's raise our lattes to that...


You can find Kahve at 155 Mitchells Chance Road Edgewater, Maryland and at www.kahvecafe.com.