Coast Roast Coffee Will Perk Up St. Roch Market At 7 a.m. Daily

Ucoming food hall St. Roch Market officially debuts this Friday, April 10, in what is certain to be the biggest spring opening in New Orleans. Not only does the return of the market mark an important milestone for the community, but the business also solidifies St. Claude Avenue as the city's newest street of dreams when it comes to dining.

When the doors open, thirteen vendors will serve up everything from African food to oysters. This week, in anticipation of the opening, Eater NOLA talks to each of the lucky thirteen on what to expect at their counter, and what they're most excited about at the new St. Roch Market.

Up now, microroaster Kevin Pedeaux, a St. Bernard native whose passion is making coffee approachable and fun. His company,  Coast Roast Coffee, based out of Holy Cross for the past seven years actually reconstructs its own antique roasters and coffee machines for roasting. At St. Roch, Coast Roast Coffee will offer both retail coffee-by-the-pound and specialty drinks.

What all will you be offering at St. Roch Market?

We are a coffee roaster, so i'm going to have a gauntlet of coffees from cheaper to more expensive fair trade organics.  We'll have a St. Roch blend that's affordable.  We want to be affordable, and we want to be awesome. I'll have stuff comparable to a grocery store coffee, but it's fresh roasted and much nicer, but at a grocery store price. Retail wise, we'll be the only people in New Orleans with local goats milk. We'll be retailing it by the half gallon, and using it for our lattes and stuff.  It's from a great farm up in Folsom. We're also doing an awesome local wildflower honey and local pollen from Blood River Honey.

What's one drink that you're most excited to offer and why?

Oh man, we've got a bunch of different things we're playing around with. We have a Coca-Cola gun, so we're doing a play on a Portugese drink. They call it the Fat Americano. Basically, it's an iced Americano with Coca-Cola, so it's espresso and Coke. We'll do a sparkling Mazagran, an iced coffee with soda water and lemon instead of regular water. We're doing lots of iced drinks for spring. We'll have pour overs, Ethiopian pour overs, but we'll also have a nice frozen coffee because frozen coffee are awesome.

What does St. Roch Market mean to you? Why did you apply for a vendor spot?

I live in Holy Cross, and I can tell you the biggest problem we have on this side of town is that that there's no grocery stores. I really thought the market itself was such a cool opportunity for people like me—I produce a product and I can make it affordable because I produce it myself— I really thought I should be involved because I really felt like I had something to offer the neighborhood. I was compelled to do it because I wanted to be part of it.

What other vendor are you most excited about?

Donna and The Sweet Spot. I'm super stoked to be next to her stall because sweets and coffee go hand in hand.  It's cool because we're both open earlier than the other vendors, at 7 a.m. so you can get your coffee and breakfast, but we're also open until 11 p.m. so folks can come in and get a cafe au lait with their dessert. There's nothing better than a cafe au lait with dessert.