It gets harder and harder to remember old buildings once they’re gone, and pretty soon they’re forgotten. Do you recall the old Jittery Joe’s Roaster down the hill on East Broad Street? Flagpole was up the hill, and practically every day I walked down for a morning cup to the ancient tin warehouse building where the Firefly trailhead is now, below Student City.
Charlie Mustard was the roaster, as he still is. Charlie is one of those amazing people who personify what we like to call “our Athens.” Charlie’s sunny spirit and welcoming nature go deep and express themselves in all kinds of community involvement and quietly helping folks, plus, he makes coffee a community project, providing Jittery Joe’s “Create” brand as a fundraiser for school and civic programs.
One of the interesting aspects of buying a cup of coffee from the Roaster is the diversity of people liable to be behind the counter. Down at the old location, Charlie had a whole string of Athens types: musicians, artists, entrepreneurs. How’s this for your local barista: Betsy Franck, singer; JoJo Glidewell (what a great name, and a great guy), Modern Skirts, of Montreal; Matt Stoessel, the amazing guitarist; Vernon Thornsberry: artist, singer, cake baker; Katie Howell, masseuse; Phillip Brown, Summer Hymns, owner of PERC coffee in Savannah; and Seth Hendershot, drummer king, Randall Bramblett, Kenosha Kid, etc. etc.
The development of what I tried to get us to call “LoDo,” or lower downtown, wiped out that Roaster, and Charlie migrated over to Barber Street, where he went right on with a new, cool (and hot) space that sold coffee and gave away good vibes for years. Then, to consolidate their bean storage with their roasting, Jittery Joe’s Roasters moved to its forever home, way out Newton Bridge Road at 150 Fritz Mar Lane. As Charlie says, “We’re always in the vanguard of development,” and indeed Athens is now growing in that direction.
Fortunately, Charlie has lots of room for the mountainous bags of coffee beans central to his craft and his same welcoming atmosphere for those who just want a cuppa.
When I was visiting the old tin warehouse down the hill, I made the acquaintance of Hendershot, who was at that time behind the counter dispensing coffee and bonhomie. He told me that he was working to realize his dream of owning his own coffee shop and was expecting some kind of business development loan from the local government that eventually fell through.
Nevertheless, Seth persevered and made his move to an old filling station on Oglethorpe Avenue at the bypass, and quickly made Hendershot’s one of those places you love to visit—for the coffee and drinks and food, and that something else that the best places have. But guess what? Yep. The lease was snatched away, and Seth had to scramble fast. A blessing in disguise, because Seth and Hendershot’s landed in the Bottleworks, the perfect location for what he is up to: coffee, for sure; whatever you want in drinks; fabulous breakfast foods and snacks throughout the day, plus entertainment—local music of all types and comedy, and the occasional touring band needing a venue. Hendershot’s (now right across the street from Flagpole—we had to move, too) is a breakfast spot, a bar and a coffee shop with lots of space for laptop work both inside with the big open window, and outside on the spacious terrace. And throughout, Seth, the hard-working drummer, is keeping the beat for it all and always with a smile.
Charlie and Seth are just two reminders that with all the changes a town like Athens experiences, it’s the people with deep roots and commitment to the common good who keep the class in the Classic City.
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