“This has a small, homey feel to it,” Perkins said of Medina River Coffee, which he and business partner T.J. Caplinger opened near Walker Ranch Park on West Avenue more than three years ago.
Perkins said he served 26 years in the military before retiring as a lieutenant colonel. He said he fell in love with the San Antonio area during his final active-duty posting at Joint Base San Antonio-Fort Sam Houston.
After owning then selling a previous health care venture, Perkins said he and Caplinger got help from consultants in creating Medina River Coffee.
A weekend getaway along the Medina River in Bandera inspired the name for the cafe, which Perkins said he sees as a way to give back to the community and to further his and Caplinger’s love of coffee.
Perkins said he uses a roaster manufactured by Idaho-based Diedrich Roasters to roast about 50 pounds of coffee beans every three days.
Medina River offers more than 10 different 1-pound batches, including caramel and toasted coconut, Ethiopian Yirgacheffe, and Honduran Mata de Platano. Each package goes for $10.99 except the Yirgacheffe, which sells for $11.99.
“We also provide coffee beans to other small coffee shops,” he said.
The menu offers traditional, specialty and seasonal coffee drinks as well as lemonade and caffeine-free tea blends, such as ginseng peppermint, blackberry sage and chamomile lemon.
The shop also offers coffee flights, featuring four small pours of a patron’s choice of espresso beverages, cold brew, tea or lemonade.
Seasonal drinks offerings, such as peppermint mocha and brown sugar cinnamon lattes are also available for a limited time, according to the coffee shop.
Pastry offerings include cookies, muffins and bread baked in-house, and a limited selection of kolaches and klobasniky from local company Bexar Kolaches.
Customers may stay and enjoy free Wi-Fi, or post information on a community bulletin board. Perkins said he enjoys seeing the regular customers and the sense of community the shop has created.
“It’s nice when people come in. They do small talk [and] find out what’s going on,” Perkins said.
Medina River Coffee
11825 West Ave., Ste. 101, San Antonio
210-802-6155
www.medinarivercoffee.com
Hours: Mon.-Wed. 7 a.m.-2 p.m., Thu.-Fri. 7 a.m.-9 p.m., Sat. 8 a.m.-9 p.m., Sun. 8 a.m.-2 p.m.
