Vice & Virtue Coffee
477 S. Main St, Memphis, TN, 38103
Inside a plush hotel lobby, where antique elegance meets cozy comfort, sits a specialty coffee shop where its easy to sink in and loose track of time. Vice & Virtue Coffee sits two blocks from the Lorraine Hotel (site of MLK’s assassination and current home of the National Civil Rights Museum) and just south of Beale Street. Here, a vintage trolley car still services the hip, arts district of South Main Street, where warehouses from the early 1900’s are now brew pubs, vintage shops, and eateries. Home of Blues , which transitioned into the birthplace of Rock and Roll, Memphis makes for a lively visit of history, music, and a charming, womple worthy coffee shop.
Coffee:
V&V’s signature offering is a coffee that no doubt would have delighted the likes of Mark Twain, Lucille Ball, Teddy Roosevelt, John Wayne, William Faulkner, and Sam Cooke (some of history’s most famous bourbon drinkers) with their bourbon barrel-aged coffee which I found to be profoundly bourbon forward. I had it as my espresso in a cortado. Evocative and well executed, it wouldn’t be my daily choice, but it was a fun side car with my black drip, a floral and fruity Ethiopian variety.
Barista:
Two baristas took turns providing me my beverages while filling me in on the history of the shop, their landlord (the Arrive Hotel), the fresh bakery selections, and their coffees of choice. It was a pleasant and enriching dialog, and they defiantly added a few lumps of goodness into my mug.
Vibe:
The hotel lobby is a very inviting space which houses a cocktail bar, a bakery, and Vice & Virtue Coffee. The location is on Main Street, a historical thoroughfare that is still serviced by the clickety clack of a vintage, downtown Memphis trolley car. A collection of unique and comfortable antiques fills the space, providing a wealth of options where one might settle in. V&V lobby-mate bakery provides a variety of fresh-made options. I tried a pumpkin hand pie that was excellent. Bathroom, seating options, outlet availability and the eye candy of a well curated assortment of antiques all made for a space where I could see myself spending a comfortable afternoon reading a book, writing a letter, or people watching.
Make You Better
It’s kind of a hotel thing to have a signature fragrance permeating the lobby. While I don’t object to this, I found Arrive’s bouquet to be overpowering and at odds with the warm, welcoming scents afforded by an in-house coffee shop and bakery. Despite a compelling logo, there was an unfortunate, curious, and complete lack of merch.
Vice and Virtue would be a pleasant and worthwhile stop for anyone visiting Memphis.
Clyde <3
