Gaslight Coffee Roasters

Three roasts a week come out of a back room in Logan Square, Chicago, and the front of the shop is arranged so you can taste the result without leaving: espresso, batch brew, pour over, and a kitchen that runs well past the pastry case.

Two single origins on espresso, one on batch

Coffee is the center of Gaslight Coffee Roasters. The bar keeps two single origins on espresso and one on batch brew, alongside pour overs, iced coffees and lattes built on beans roasted in the same building. The retail list shows how the roaster thinks: Guatemala ALMA San Marcos Nuevo Oriente, Ethiopia Suke Quto, Tranquility Decaf, Cold Brew Beans, and a Gaslight Tasting Set for anyone comparing seasonal lots side by side. Subscriptions, brewing gear, tea and chocolate sit on the same shelves.

The equipment is the working kind. A two-group La Marzocco Strada anchors the bar, with two espresso grinders, an EK43 for batch brew, a hot water boiler for tea, and a batch brewer tucked below the counter. Roasting happens in a rear room three times a week, which is why the bags on the shelf and the cup in your hand tend to be the same coffee.

A wedge-shaped room with taxidermy

The shop occupies a wedge in an old building, with exposed brick, wooden floorboards, a whitewashed ceiling and old timber beams overhead. Baroque fractal wallpaper and taxidermy give it a hunting-lodge look that suits a long sit with a book as much as a fast espresso.

The entrance sits at the narrow point of the wedge, glass wrapped around a recessed doorway. Near the front there is bike storage, four fold-down cinema seats, a long low table, retail shelves and window tables. Farther back, a communal picnic table with fixed benches runs along the wall while high stools face the espresso machine. The counter looks straight at the door, tea service sits toward the back, and the kitchen works behind it, so coffee, tea, roasting and food all stay within a few steps of each other.

Order coffee, then eat properly

Start with whichever single origin is on espresso, or take the batch brew if you want the roast in its plainest form. Pour over is the better choice when the room is quiet and there is time to wait for it.

Then eat. The kitchen runs five or six seasonal dishes through the earlier part of the day, with duck eggs Benedict, charcuterie, housemade pickles and local cheeses among the named plates, and cakes and pastries available throughout service. Few roasteries bother with a savory menu at this level, and here it is the reason to stay past the second cup.