New Coffee Shops

The arrival of two new coffeehouses since the start of the school year has the Geneva community buzzing. The Beaver Falls Coffee & Tea Company, started by Geneva graduates, now serves a steady stream of students and others in the community at its 3219 Fourth Ave. location on College Hill. The college opened the Riverview Café in the Student Center in the fall, converting a former conference room into a cozy coffee shop and giving students the option of using their meal plan "flex points" to purchase products.
Two new coffee shops have found their niche at Geneva.

College students and coffee most definitely mix – that’s a concept the recently unveiled Riverview Café and the nearby Beaver Falls Coffee & Tea Company are seeing evidence of these days.

Both the Riverview Café in the lower level of the Student Center and the Beaver Falls Coffee & Tea Company at 3219 Fourth Ave. are welcome additions, according to students. And besides quality products, students and others are also excited about something else.

“I think it creates a place for community,” said Joanna Sprague, nighttime manager at the Riverview Café. “The more places like that, the better.”

One Riverview customer described the shop as a cozy corner and a place that will become more and more a part of Geneva. A frequenter of Beaver Falls Coffee & Tea said the atmosphere is "like coming home." Janet Chamberlain (senior – communications) said the shops add a whole new element to student-faculty interaction.

Cream of the shop

Beaver Falls Coffee & Tea:
wFrosted White Mint Mocha

wThe Promised Land (milk and honey steamer with cinnamon)

Riverview:

wFrozen Explosion (all sorts of flavors, with or without espresso)

wChai options

"It brings the students and professors together in a more casual fashion," Chamberlain said.

Is there room for both the Brig’s Riverview and "BFCAT," as Beaver Falls Coffee & Tea has begun to be termed? Many are saying they think so.

"I think there’s definitely enough of a market to support both the Brig (Riverview) and this one," said former resident director and Beaver Falls resident Wendy Van Wyhe. "College students like coffee."

Each offers perks the other doesn’t – students enjoy the convenience of using their meal-plan "flex points" at the Riverview Café, as well as its central location on campus. But a quick hop across Route 18 brings coffee seekers to BFCAT, where a piano and home setting add to the warm atmosphere. So far, business is looking up at both places.

"The students have been overwhelmingly supportive," said co-owner Bethany (Canzanella ’03) Warren. "Opening day we had 500 people in here, and most of them were students."

Perhaps Betsy James ’00 put it best – "College people love coffee."