43
Pressed Coffee Bar & Eatery opens on YSU’s campus
By Kalea Hall
YOUNGSTOWN
It was a typical busy morning at the newly opened Pressed coffee shop on Youngstown State University’s campus.
The alluring smell, and thought, of coffee drew in customer after customer, just as it has since Feb. 6.
“We turned the key and it has been lines to the door every day,” said Frank Tuscano, co-owner of the coffee bar and eatery.
As customers stirred and sipped their signature Penguin Mocha and Campfire Smores lattes, Tuscano explained the list of treats on the menu from scones to frittatas — an Italian dish made with beaten eggs.
“That has been a big hit,” Tuscano said.
A lot of the menu has been a “big hit,” even though the owners, Frank, his wife, Amy, and Pam VonBergen have done little advertising.
“There was clearly a need for [the coffee bar and eatery],” Tuscano said.
Tuscano knew he wanted to open “something,” but he wasn’t set on it being a coffee shop. When VonBergen, who owns two Subways and a Hot Head Burrito restaurant in the city, approached him nine months ago about the coffee shop, he said yes. VonBergen’s landlord had the open space at 215 Lincoln Ave. — a historic house that had previously operated as a coffee shop.
“Coffee definitely fit here well,” Tuscano said.
A cozy fireplace, granite-topped tables and open windows that light up the rooms offer an inviting atmosphere for the YSU students looking for a break in their studies, or a place to relax and study.
The goal was to maintain the home’s quaint character, but add some contemporary style to it. The Tuscanos studied European, Italian coffee shops while in Italy and brought back ideas.
The changes made to the former coffee shop were mostly cosmetic.
The menu was the larger task at hand for VonBergen and the Tuscanos.
They spent 80 to 100 hours learning about coffee. They had to learn about grades of coffee, how it blends and what affects the taste.
The beans they use come from all over the world. VonBergen said Pressed’s house blend is a mix of Ethiopian, Costa Rican and Guatemalan beans. The bold blend is made from Sumatran beans. The drip coffee starts at $1.85.
The six signature drinks at the shop start at $3.50 for the hot version, $3.65 for the iced and $3.75 for the frozen.
Italian sodas are another option for customers as well as tea and steamed drinks.
Top choices in the shop’s sweets section include the oatmeal raisin cookies, pistachio cupcakes and scones. Paninis, starting at $7.25, also are on the menu, and salads start at $5.50.
The coffee shop has been open for a month, and it already has some regulars.
Olivia Engle, a sophomore nursing student at YSU, is one of them.
“I have been here at least once a week,” she said. “It seems like their ingredients are quality and fresh.”
Engle and her friend, Lindsay Zupko, a junior education major at YSU, are happy to have a coffee shop open on campus. Both ordered signature lattes and pastries.
“I like the feel of the atmosphere,” Zupko said.
Talk about the coffee shop has been going on around campus and on social media, they said.
Tyler Hammond, a sophomore studio art major at YSU, and Patty Schuster, a senior YSU student who majors in general studies with a focus in education and child and family studies, also heard about the coffee bar and eatery.
“I love it,” Schuster said. “It’s so cute. I can’t wait for the upstairs to be open.”
That’s the next step for the owners.