DREAUX COFFEE

Located inside Fiesta Nutrition Center, Dreaux Coffee is a specialty coffee and tea bar that is “slingin’ beans” and brewing products that aim to bring people together one specialty cup at a time.

PHOTOGRAPHY BY KELLY MOORE CLARK | ARTICLE BY VANELIS RIVERA

It seems appropriate that the life-blood of many people’s mornings has a patron saint. A Flemish nobleman born in 1105, Saint Drogo (also known as Dreux and Drugo) is the patron saint of an impressive list of categories, including coffee and coffee house owners. Drogo’s notable attributes of only drinking warm water, surviving a fire (like a coffee bean), and alleged ability to be in two places at once, perhaps related him to the energizing power of our favorite bean. Appropriately, this is the namesake of one of Monroe’s most understated and interesting coffee dens —Dreux Coffee. This specialty coffee and tea bar, located inside of Fiesta Nutrition Center, is “slingin’ beans” and brewing products that aim to bring people together one specialty cup at a time.

Originally from northeast Arkansas, Cafe Manager Aron Felkins thought of coffee like most of us do: as an early morning family ritual. Though the aroma alone would revive feelings of nostalgia in Aron, he remembers wishing the drink of champions would taste as good as it smelled: “As soon as it touches your tongue, it’s just God-awful.” Aron’s coffee journey began at Starbucks. When he was a student at the University of Louisiana at Monroe, he worked at the on-campus location, later adding shifts at the North 18th store, and finally landing a supervisor position in Shreveport. But it was at Rhino Coffee that Aron learned about more involved brewing methods. Starting to try coffee in “better places,” led to a honeymoon trip with his wife to Portland, a city with an “obsessive coffee culture.” “It was an eye-opening, Mecca pilgrimage to the coffee capitol,” says Aron. He was stunned by the different tastes beans could produce as opposed to the mainstream “roasty, bitter, cold coffees everyone is kind of familiar with.” Sweet and fruity coffees were strange to him. He thought the “be all, end all” of coffee was the bitter kind he developed a palate for when he would double-shot espresso all his drinks. Trying coffee from smaller shops accustomed him to what coffee should taste like: “Coffee is meant to be enjoyed. What a surprise, right?” Inspired by the boundaries being pushed, he became more obsessed with coffee and began to think: “What would it look like if I started doing this?”

When he moved back to Monroe from Shreveport, he was looking for a part time job, which landed him at Fiesta Nutrition stocking groceries. Coincidentally, the Fiesta owners’—Angie O’Pry, Robin Hitt, and Tim Hitt—were thinking about opening up a juice bar and wanting to incorporate coffee. They turned to Aron’s experience and allowed him to test out brews for Fiesta customers. He knew then, coffee was his calling. Curating the menu was a difficult task, because Aron is a self-proclaimed purist. Whenever he brews coffee, he believes all the flavors are already present, anything added akin to a distraction. Many times the baristas would be asked for cream and sugar, or whether they served espresso drinks. But the Dreux team wanted to showcase the raw product, which was difficult for many customers to understand. At the time, all they had were kettles and hot water.

Behind the bar, Aron resembles a mad scientist trying to find the “perfect cup of coffee” through experimentation and exploration of coffee at a molecular level. Most of the time, customers could taste the difference between a Dreux brew and what they’d usually get at a store. Side-by-side sampling allowed many to develop a curiosity that would, in turn, widen their coffee tendencies. Many conversations ensued about brewing methods and the taste variety from countries in Latin America and Africa. He has been so successful that some regulars claim Aron ruined their taste for places like Starbucks. “Coffee is a lot more complex than just being a conduit for sugar and cream,” he affirms. Of course, there are still many of us that aren’t going to drink black coffee. In addition to the classic cappuccinos, lattes, and cortados, Dreux’s is creating other blends, taking into account the roast of a bean and its terroir (characteristic taste based on environment). Most of their drinks don’t get more complicated than three ingredients and use flavors that compliment what already stands out: “We try to keep it as simple as possible, because we still want to highlight what the coffee tastes like.”

A Dreux favorite, S’more of What (a nod to the sleepover scene from The Sandlot) is a rich espresso with chocolate sauce made in-house and topped with roasted marshmallows. The nostalgic drink also highlights the perks of brewing in a health food store, where responsibly sourced ingredients are only shelves away. For instance, Dreux’s chocolate sauce uses Tony’s Chocolate, a Dutch company focused on selling fair trade chocolate. When Aron makes a drink, he wants it to hit someone’s spiritual center. His top-sellers are a testament to the grandeur of simplicity: their pour-overs, mostly Ethiopian, are brewed to order, while the cappuccinos are the perfect mix of velvety-ness and strong coffee. Their brewing methods are versatile and dependent on a bean’s taste. Full immersion brewers like the French press or Clever dripper are best suited for darker bodied coffees, but can be used for getting the most out of light bodied coffees. Kalita drippers are used mostly with “fruit-forward coffees.” For practicality, Dreux uses Chemex the most, a manual glass pour-over that is also sold at the store.

Not to be outdone by the rocket fuel side of the menu, the teas brewed at Dreux’s prioritize process as part of the drinking experience. “We’ve been drinking tea wrong in the West. We’ve been doing it wrong for a long time,” informs Aron. Apparently tea bags were a mistake. A tea trader sending customers full leaf tea placed them in silk bags. His customers assumed that the bags were intended for the immersion process and threw them into boiling water. “That’s how the West learned to drink tea.” You can still get Western-style tea at Dreux, but you’d be missing out on the complexity of the leaves. If you want the full experience, you’ll ask for tea brewed the gongfu method, where tea goes through multiple infusions as opposed to “throw the tea in a pot, steep for five minutes, and then pour it out.” This method starts with whole leaf tea that is brewed in small portions.

Beginning with one to four ounces of water, the leaves are steeped for thirty seconds to a minute, then undergo a few more rounds. “As you do that, the tea begins to open up,” says Aron, stressing that the goal is to allow the flavors to gradually develop. “That just gives you more of the personality of the tea.” Dreux uses whole leaves because most bags contain tea byproduct, or what Aron refers to as “tea dust.” While some teas can be bagged, the tactile and taste experience gets lost because bags can close up, keeping water from passing through the leaf particles.

Aron recommends first timers start with sencha, a Japanese green tea with naturally occuring theanine (a calming compound). That, mixed with caffeine, creates a zen-like balance with “less of a caffeine kick-and-crash and more of a honed-in focus,” says Felkins. Already a tea enthusiast? A popular option is their London Fog: house-made vanilla, Earl Grey, and steamed whole milk. Oolongs are also in demand, a tasty cross between a green and black tea with hints of honey and roastiness. Ask for their top shelf varieties! Their Red Jade is a black tea that can be infused multiple times. Originally the plant was grown as a wind barrier for high-end green teas, but then was discovered to contain a naturally spiced flavor of clove and cinnamon. “If there were a holiday tea, Red Jade would be one of those,” says Felkins. Playing on the more unique notes of flavor is lapsang, a smoky black tea that smells like hickory and bbq. Iced teas also have a place on the Dreux menu, mainly the lemongrass green tea, ginger plum, and a classic ice tea (black tea infused with bergamot, similar to an Earl Grey). As one of the oldest beverages on the planet, the Dreux tea selections are worth the slowdown of process and preparation.

At Dreux Coffee everything revolves around the brews. Dreux’s baristas have been titled as “truly profound,” speaking to their attentive and good-vibes-only attitude. “Good things can come from any place,” says Aron, referring to the significance of a quality product, regardless of the space it’s in. That’s not to say you won’t find a nook at Dreux’s where you’re able to commune with friends or lay low on your own, but he understands the space is an unconventional choice compared to high-end coffeehouses. Fortunately, the environment is favorable to the Druex mission: to educate and promote the quality and complexity of brewed drinks. Sitting at Dreux is symbolic of community, a place where relationships start, businesses are formed, and ideas are made. “This sort of unseen centerpiece is the coffee,” says Aron.

Dreux Coffee is located in 1211 N 18th St, Monroe, LA 71201. Follow them on Facebook and Instagram to learn more about their roasters (Onyx Coffee Labs and Counter Culture). Call them at (318) 387-8446 to book for catering.