Narrative coffee roasters
9106 Strada place, naples, fl 34102 (in the mercato)
I found myself in Naples FL in early 2023 on a recent trip and tried to dig into the craft coffee scene (or at least find something that was not Starbucks). Alas, Narrative Coffee Roasters rose to the forefront pretty quickly and I decided to give it a go. Narrative’s shop is located in the Mercato which is a large outdoorsy mall near Pelican Bay. It opens at 8:00 (pardon me???) A.M., which I find to be a negative but given the geographic setting, maybe they have analyzed a lack of traffic before that time.
Coffee:
The blackeye from Narrative had a good body (not thin) with a chocolate aroma and taste that was smooth. I also ordered a side car of espresso as my guide (barista) wanted me to experience the espresso removed from the coffee. It was worth trying and that’s the germ of the chocolaty taste.
Barista:
The barista was great as she answered all my questions, was super pleasant and was willing to talk about their cool undermount espresso machine from Modbar. Although the look is sleek, she did mention that consistency of the pours from this particular type of machine was not up to her liking. My pours were great and she did “drop a lump of goodness” into the cup.
Vibe:
Great natural light fills the establishment with a cool moss theme bordering the menu and a neat logo amidst the moss installation on one wall. We were there as it opened and received the full attention of the barista. Turns out their second location (Central Naples) was closed post Hurricane Ian and has just opened up again. I would have liked to gone to “Central” as it is where their roastery is and I believe it to be a cooler vibe (watch their YouTube video on narrativecoffeeroasters.com). Music was great with an understated volume (very work friendly) and indie focused (Head and the Heartish) done as a Spotify playlist. Plenty of outlets for those that want to work of which there seemed to be a steady stream. Speaking of the stream, this shop does not have a great system surrounding the flow of people as the shop gets busier. There is no clear direction of a line or queuing up, so it leads people to be bunched together as they wait to be served. We were actually there two different days and the service as they got busier was halting and honestly slow.
Make You Better
Narrative has a really cool logo that does not make its way onto their white cups. They do have the logo on their espresso demitasse, but it would seem to me that this would be a natural for their “to go” cup to differentiate and market. We arrived at 8:00 AM and there were no baked goods in sight until 8:45 AM. I am a person who needs a “little something” with my coffee and this was disappointing. When the baked goods appeared, the selection was slight and although the almond croissant was tasty, it was not worth the $7.00 price tag (each) ….that’s steep! The merch section was sparse and not alluring at the Mercato location.
I know that Naples FL is not a coffee mecca and Narrative is trying to put a stamp of individuality into this marketplace. It is well worth a visit as the coffee stands out in a thin coffee ecosystem.
Wompling on……..Matt