Coffee Shops and Bakeries in Apalachicola

The Cold History

Dr. John Gorrie (1803–1855) practiced medicine in this town. An 1841 yellow fever outbreak led him to cool sickrooms with ice, then to build a mechanical ice-making machine. He received an 1851 patent for mechanical refrigeration. The John Gorrie Museum State Park on Sixth Street commemorates him; the site was donated to the State of Florida in 1955, and the one-storey brick museum building was constructed in 1957.

The town itself carried three names in as many decades: first Cottonton, then West Point on incorporation in 1828, and finally Apalachicola from 1831. It is a small place. The population is 2,304 people, with a median age of 51.8 years. Of 1,506 housing units, 323 are vacant, and 191 are held for seasonal or recreational use. The median home value is $247,900. The unemployment rate is 5.8 percent. A third of residents hold a bachelor's degree or higher.

That is the town. The coffee shops sit inside it.

The Shops

Apalachicola Chocolate & Coffee Company is at 75 Market St. It is rated 4.6 from 994 reviews, the largest sample on this list. Market Street is also where the Orman House Historic State Park stands, with its Chapman Botanical Garden and the Three Soldiers Detail South memorial. The shop is on the same street as that park, which is to say it is in the middle of the town's historic core.

Cafe Con Leche is at 234 Water St. It is rated 4.6 from 497 reviews. Water Street runs along the waterfront side of town, near Battery Park at the mouth of the Apalachicola River. Battery Park is the town's waterfront green and the ground on which the Florida Seafood Festival is held. That festival is billed as Florida's oldest maritime event, a two-day affair that draws tens of thousands. The 63rd annual edition is scheduled for 6-7 November.

Old Time Soda Fountain is at 93 Avenue B. It is rated 4.5 from 159 reviews. Avenue B is a short street that connects Market and Water. The name suggests a different era, and the town has the history to back it: oysters were sold locally as early as 1836, and the Ruge Brothers Canning Company was established in 1885. Sponging was a mainstay from the mid-1870s; Apalachicola had 16 sponge vessels working in 1879, and by 1895 between 80 and 120 men were employed in the trade. Timber commerce rose from $2,000,000 in 1898 to $13,324,000 in 1903, and the first Apalachicola Northern Railroad engine reached the town on 30 April 1907. A soda fountain is not a strange thing to find in a town that has been trading goods since before the railroad.

The Mermaid Lounge Cafe is at 117 Market St. It is rated 5.0 from 13 reviews. A perfect score from a small sample. It shares an address with Market Street Toys and Treats, also at 117 Market St, rated 4.5 from 4 reviews. Two businesses, one door. The reviews are few, but the location is the same as the chocolate company's street, which means you can walk from one end of Market to the other and hit three of the five places on this list.

What the Numbers Say

The ratings are close. Four of the five businesses sit between 4.5 and 4.6. The outlier is The Mermaid Lounge Cafe at 5.0, but 13 reviews is not a statistical foundation. The review counts tell you where the traffic is: Apalachicola Chocolate & Coffee Company has 994 reviews, Cafe Con Leche has 497, Old Time Soda Fountain has 159. The two businesses at 117 Market St have 13 and 4 reviews, respectively.

The town's median household income is $61,083. The median gross rent is $1,235. This is not a wealthy place, but it is a place with a seasonal population and a festival that draws tens of thousands. The coffee shops serve that mix: year-round residents, vacationers in the 191 seasonal homes, and the crowds that come for the Seafood Festival.

The Practical Take

If you are walking the historic district, Market Street gives you three options: Apalachicola Chocolate & Coffee Company at 75, and The Mermaid Lounge Cafe and Market Street Toys and Treats sharing 117. If you are coming off the waterfront at Battery Park, Cafe Con Leche on Water St is the closest. Old Time Soda Fountain on Avenue B sits between the two.

The history is the point. Gorrie built his ice machine because fever was killing his patients. The ice trade and refrigeration changed everything after that. Now you can buy a coffee in a town that helped invent the cold chain. The shops are not remarkable for their decor or their menus. They are remarkable for where they are: a town of 2,304 people, on a river, at the edge of the Gulf, with a museum built in 1957 to honor a man who cooled rooms with ice in 1841.

Go to the museum first. Then get the coffee. That is the correct order.