If you are looking for excellent coffee shops in Montgomery, AL, you must visit Prevail Union. Prevail is a wonderful coffee shop in downtown Montgomery just down the street from the state capitol building making it a convenient stop if you are passing through the area (if you are going through Birmingham as well, you should check out Panache too)
If you are a history buff, the surrounding area is rich with modern American history. Walking or driving from they capitol the few blocks towards Prevail you will pass by the church Martin Luther King Jr. preached at and will eventually come upon a statue commemorating Rosa Park’s historic bus ride. The street is lined with other well preserved historic buildings, such as the one Prevail is in.
Fantastic Light Roast Coffee
As you already know, I love light roast coffee. I love the adventure of unlocking new and unique flavors naturally occurring in coffee. That is one of the main reasons I started my own coffee company – to have a supply of the coffee I love!
Every time I make a coffee stop I ask the baristas for the fruitiest light roasts they have. I am not too concerned about the actual flavor profile, I just want an exciting cup of coffee. Many times I am disappointed by the muted flavors I have to concentrate to get the slightest hint of unique flavors out of.
Prevail did not disappoint.
I had a wonderfully fruity Ethiopian coffee that was delicious and intriguing, just the way I like it. Very nicely balanced and satisfying.
I also love pour-over coffee and almost always order my drink prepared in this way. My typical preference is a V60 like I have at home, but this delightful cup came courtesy a Kalita Wave flat bed pour-over made with a Curtis automated pour-over brewer. This was my first experience with the Curtis, even hearing of it, but it did a great job! The brewer ensured the even wetting and extraction of the grounds and produced a great drink.
Award Winning Aeropress Recipe
If you are an Aeropress connoisseur you are going to find like-minded baristas here. Co-founder, Wade Preston, actually won the New Orleans Brewer’s Cup Qualifier with his unique Aeropress recipe in 2018 using a Fellow Prismo attachment. Here is the award winning recipe from the Fellow website:
- Place an AeroPress® Coffee Maker paper filter on top of the Prismo metal filter.
Grind 18 grams of coffee very coarse. Bottoming out an EK grinder with stock burr spacing is probably about right. - Sift grinds with a 600 micron screen like the Kruve.
- Load your grinds into the AeroPress® Coffee Maker.
- Pour a 50 gram pre-infusion with 145°F water. (Yes, you read that right!)
- Stir gently to ensure all grinds are saturated.
- Let pre-infusion immerse for 3 minutes. (Yep, three minutes as in 180 seconds!)
- Fill to 205 grams with 208°F water.
- Stir 5 revolutions with AeroPress® Coffee Maker paddle.
- Let immerse for 2 minutes and 30 seconds.
- Stir 5 revolutions and plunge, steadily for 30 seconds until you hear the vacuum seal break.
Best to enjoy after setting for 1-2 minutes.
Fellow Distributor
If you love Fellow products (I love the aesthetics and would love to add a Carter mug to my collection), then you will love this shop. As you enter the long shotgun style building, along the lefthand wall is a giant Fellow display full of all the latest and greatest tools and accessories. I love being able to see the products IRL and not just on the internet.
From the aesthetics of the building and ambiance of the cafe, to the historical setting, to the delicious coffee, I think this coffee shop is a gem. If you are looking for artisan coffee shops in Montogmery, AL, you should check out Prevail. You will not be disappointed!
