Special-ed class runs coffee shop

Beans are freshly ground, and the espresso and cappuccino drinks are the real thing.

AKRON (AP) — On a rainy Friday morning at Akron’s Garfield High School, the Garbucks crew of Room 109 prepared an Almond Joy latte.

It was just after the first-period bell had rung, and the classroom-turned-cafe smelled of freshly ground beans and just-brewed coffee.

The baristas, students in Leslie Coffey’s special-education class, all knew their jobs for the week and assembled the drink orders.

Junior Daniel Finney poured the flavoring shots into the cup — almond, coconut and chocolate syrups.

“They have to steam the milk up first before you put the espresso in from the machine,” Finney explained.

He also ran the cash register and had already rung up a sale for Irene Isabella, a school secretary and a loyal customer.

Senior David Shimko’s job was steaming the milk.

Senior Kristin Isley had already ground the fresh espresso beans and was in charge of finishing the Almond Joy latte with whipped cream and ribbons of chocolate syrup. She fitted the lid just so, holding the edges but not touching anything that might also touch someone’s mouth.

David and senior Anthony Ellis were the delivery crew, bringing some orders right to the staffers’ desks and teachers’ classrooms.

This is Garbucks’ third year at Garfield and Coffey’s 25th year in the district.

Coffey teaches a multiple disability class of eight students and is always on the lookout for a business opportunity for her kids.

“Our focus is trying to prepare them for the world of work and to live as independently as possible after they leave high school,” Coffey said.

Rounding out the Garbucks crew are freshmen Preston Dean and Demarre Hubbard and senior Zia Lee. Nancy Laria is Coffey’s teaching assistant.

Coffey came up with the Garbucks idea when she transferred from Litchfield Middle School four years ago.

Name notwithstanding, Mrs. Coffey is not a big coffee drinker, but her husband is.

“Mr. Coffey is very particular about coffee,” she said.

That led her to ask colleagues whether the ancient coffee machine in the teachers’ lounge was all that was available. Sadly, it was.

So her kids needed jobs, and her colleagues needed coffee. Good coffee. Not some overnight drip brew on a timer. Not some gas station cappuccino machine using a powder.

She wanted her kids to make espresso drinks from fresh ground beans. She wanted them to steam the milk and make real espresso and cappuccino drinks.

Her first stop was at an Akron tradition since 1919: the Pearl Coffee Co.

She wanted Pearl’s freshly roasted beans, but it was the advice on coffee and coffee machines that made the biggest difference.

“We would never have done this if it wasn’t for them,” Coffey said.

The commercial espresso machines she was looking at were too expensive and required attachment to their own waterline. The folks at Pearl referred her to World Cup Coffee Roasters, in Cleveland, which sold her a portable machine with its own water compartment, which meant Garbucks could use pure spring water instead of Akron tap water.

World Cup also gave the class a professional coffee bean grinder.

The espresso machine cost about $1,000. The class bought it with money from its other business, jewelry making.

Garbucks now has two espresso machines and packs one up on Fridays to sell drinks at a district office building.

But the class does most of its business right out of Room 109 at Garfield.

“The students are the busiest the first thing in the morning,” Coffey said. “They start grinding the beans. They have a job chart that lists who has what jobs and they have them for the week. ... They have regular customers who want their coffee delivered first period.”

Garbucks consumes the first period, although students and teachers might drift in throughout the day looking for a pick-me-up.

The money raised is spent on classroom activities, such as field trips. The students also earn their own money, which provides another life experience: shopping for clothes, trying them on, paying at the register and getting back change.

Playing out scenarios with fake money in the classroom just isn’t the same.

“It’s not the same until you take that real money and go out in the real world and have to do things,” Coffey said.

The work is as real as the money. Coffey keeps track of how many times she has to prompt students to do their jobs, and she doesn’t tolerate anyone standing around when there are always counters to clean and dishes to wash.

She also tries to stay out of it as much as possible, encouraging the students to talk to each other and solve problems as a team.

One of the students’ favorite jobs at Garbucks is research and development, such as taste testing new coffee drinks.

There’s the Buckeye Blitz latte, with chocolate and peanut butter, named for Garfield graduate and Ohio State football standout Chris “Beanie” Wells.

And there are seasonal concoctions, such as the Power to the Peeps latte with toasted marshmallow syrup and a yellow Peep marshmallow chick on top.

The students may work in a coffee shop, but they frown if the drinks tastes too much like, well, coffee.

“They always think it needs more syrup,” Coffey said.