This Couple Wants To Reinvent The Coffee Shop Experience With Sommeliers And Omakase – CoffeeTalk

Now and Then, a coffee shop in Nashville, has been in operation since its inception in 2021. The concept, which is currently in its third space in four years, aims to redefine coffee as a culinary experience rather than just a conveyance for caffeine. The menu features a rotating selection of about 10 rare, hard-to-source coffee beans processed in labs and roasteries globally, each of which can be served as a filter shot, pour-over, or emulsifying filtered coffee in a shaker with ice until it’s frothy, served in a coupe. Now and Then only seats 10, offers no takeout, and no cold brew.

The couple, Demi Chacon and Davy Ball, draw inspiration from sommeliers and ask customers what they like about coffee and what they dislike. There is no expertise necessary, nor pretentiousness. They questioned the typical café model and questioned all of it, asking customers what they like about coffee and what they dislike.

Once a guest selects their coffee, Ball grinds it, then hands the grounds over in a metal tin so the guest can smell them before extraction. Fresh Colombian pink bourbon grounds smell like stone fruit and citrus. Once the pour is ready, visitors are encouraged to take their time during the tasting experience, to note how the flavor develops as the drink’s temperature changes. Coffees available range in price from around $8 to $50 per pour and change daily based on what’s in the mini freezer, where Chacon and Ball dose beans at their peak post-roasting status (three weeks according to the couple). A peek inside reveals dozens of scientific vials carrying a washed Chinese bean roasted in the Netherlands, or a Panama-based bean processed in France.

Chacon and Ball met in 2019 while working in a Tampa coffee shop. They would go on to work in several cafés together, helping new spots open and participating in competitive barista throw-downs. By 2021, the concept of Now and Then was born, though not nearly as refined. At the time, they would bring in one exciting coffee for a weekend each month—usually selling out before making it to Sunday. When the couple moved to Nashville, they met with Brock by chance, bonding over Leica cameras. Once they started explaining their vision for how people would experience Now and Then, they knew they were cut from the same cloth.

Now and Then initially set up shop at Brock’s now closed Bar Continental inside the Grand Hyatt Nashville, using Brock’s elaborate audio setup and serving irresistibly fluffy milk bread. The format was a nod to Japanese jazz kissa bars, dedicated listening lounges serving up tea or alcohol. As the trio grew closer, the pop-up morphed into a proper residency. The three would team up for other collaborations, like a Mother’s Day brunch featuring Now and Then’s coffee service.

When Brock left the Hyatt, he brought Now and Then into his 809 Meridian St. building, renting out the bar space upstairs from Audrey and across the hall from his other restaurant, June, to Chacon and Ball. Now and Then has established a rapport with regulars, celebrities (including the pop band, Plain White T’s, which documented their visit on TikTok), and out-of-state enthusiasts who make the trip for the experience.

Over a year into Now and Then’s Nashville iteration, and armed with a devoted band of followers, the couple is looking to grow once again. They have signed a lease for a brick-and-mortar space, about a mile down the road but much, much larger. Ball says the goal is to expand to a coffee omakase experience and tea service with wagashi treats between courses by day and a wine bar by night. Dining in will still be required, but they will offer a to-go window with a separate menu for the take-out crowd.

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