August 15, 2024
Vanderbrew in Leesburg Serves Up Coffee, Tea and Sweet Treats During Soft Opening
By Gina Horan
Vanderbrew in Leesburg Serves Up Coffee, Tea and Sweet Treats During Soft Opening
Beyond the steamy windows and brand-new graphics comes Vanderbrew Coffee, which had their soft opening today in Downtown Leesburg at 201 W. Main Street.
Offering gourmet coffee and espresso drinks, teas and lemonades, the newest addition to the store-front eateries in downtown hopes to have their grand-opening and ribbon cutting by the end of the month.
Michael Huey, owner and proprietor of Two Old Hags Wine Shoppe, is branching out to offer something for the early-morning and afternoon crowd and hopes to enhance his menu with healthier options.
“Eventually, we want to have sandwiches, smoothies and organic sweets because I want people to have the choice for healthy, quick bites,” he says.
For local barista Sarah Tremblay, the goal is quite simple.
“I want to offer reliable, high-quality coffees and drinks that are consistent,” she says. “So that no matter who is working or what time of day, the beverage is always of the highest quality.”
That promise quality includes using roasted beans from Stemma Craft Coffee out of Orlando and pastries from Darlin’s Sweet Shoppe delivered daily from Sawgrass Market in The Villages.
Sarah is somewhat of a local legend at the espresso machine, and Michael hopes that once the word gets out, folks will visit Vanderbrew Coffee for grab-n-go items or just to enjoy a hand-crafted beverage in the beautifully decorated space. There is plenty of room in the back to drink, chill and admire the paintings of the Florida Highwaymen and the treasures recovered from Leesburg’s historic downtown buildings.
Give them a try!
Vanderbrew Coffee
201 W. Main St.
Leesburg
Vanderbrewcoffee.com
Photos by Matthew Gaulin and Gina Horan
Gina moved to central Florida in August of 2021 from the San Francisco Bay Area. She has a bachelor’s degree in Linguistics and spent 10 years as a fashion editor, columnist and food writer for The Knight Ridder Newspaper group. She was also a photo stylist and covered concerts, fashion shows and festivals all over Northern California. In 2000, she joined KSAN radio as a morning show co-host and produced the news and sports content there for 4 years. She also covered travel, events and the restaurant scene for KRON-Bay TV. She is a veteran bartender and has worked in hospitality on and off since high school. Her passions include travel, road trips, history books, baseball, tasting menus and most of all, landing in a new city with no map or guidebook. Gina lives in Oxford with her mom, cats and baby hamster.
