For the past few weeks, Sackville coffee partners Alice Cotton and Pete Stephenson have been plying their trade in a brand new location under a brand new name, and this Wednesday the couple will celebrate the official grand opening of their new venture, Café Tintamarre, located inside the Tantramar Visitor Information Centre.
“It’s been really a lot of fun,” says Cotton, about the first few weeks of ‘soft open’ for Café Tintamarre. “We’re having fun comparing week to week, and seeing it build.”
Cotton says the café sees all kinds of customers, including regulars from the Deus Ex Macina coffee truck at the Sackville Farmers Market (which still operates every Saturday), people walking through the Sackville Waterfowl Park, and travellers passing through Sackville, stopping for some tourist information or to use of the new bank of EV chargers recently activated by NB Power.
Cotton says the chargers are getting lots of use, and she’s been told they are a popular stop for EV owners, because “there are three of them, and there’s never a lineup.”
And Café Tintamarre is making efforts to improve the charging experience, beyond offering drinks for those waiting.
“We’ve heard that the local EV community has issues because they’re charging at home or at these chargers, so they have no place to wash their windshields,” says Stephenson. And so Café Tintamarre is now providing a DIY windshield washing station for those using the chargers. “While we’re not going to be out there squeegeeing off their windshields for them,” says Stephenson, “we do provide a self-serve option.”
In addition to their selection of coffee and drinks, Café Tintamarre is offering their own homemade popsicles in unique flavours like Vietnamese coffee and cucumber lime, as well as baked goods from Ketchup With That Kitchen. The plan is to eventually carry sandwiches and salads from the popular Midgic-based caterer.
Café Tintamarre will be open daily from 9am to 4pm, and though Stephenson and Cotton are racking up their own overtime hours, they have also hired at least one part time worker to help out.
Wednesday’s grand opening day is a “drop-in affair,” says Cotton. “If you want to, that’d be great. We’d love to see people.”
