“You can find peace in a cup of cof­fee,” said The­mar Long, who named his cof­fee shop after a song he heard by Ledisi, the R&B singer and song­writer from New Orleans. Ledisi sang about not being able to find peace in a cup of coffee.

“Some folks do not real­ize that ‘Joe’ is another word for cof­fee,” explained Long. “They come in here and ask to meet Joe!”

Opened almost four years ago, <a href=“http://peaceandacupofjoe.com/” target=_blank”>Peace and a Cup of Joe serves break­fast pas­tries, sand­wiches and sal­ads at 713 W. Pratt Street in Ridgely’s Delight. It is located one block from the Uni­ver­sity of Maryland’s Shock Trauma Center.

“The whole idea for this place was com­fort and warmth,” said Long. “I wanted my cus­tomers to feel like they were at home. This is a place where you come and stay.”

Indeed, there are board games for cus­tomers to enjoy. A large tele­vi­sion screen and com­fort­able sofas and pil­lows sur­round a fire­place. Cus­tomers are encour­aged to relax.

I had a white rasp­berry truf­fle cof­fee, served in a ceramic cup and topped with whipped cream for $5. The cof­fee was mel­low, smooth and it had a sub­tle taste of choco­late. My com­pan­ion had the iced gin­ger tea chai for $3.50. I sam­pled it and could taste cloves. The gin­ger added a real kick to the chai. Both were very sat­is­fy­ing. Enjoyable.

Peace and a Cup of Joe sells Brazil­ian, Suma­tran, Columbian and Ethiopian blends; $1.54 for a small cup and $1.99 for a large cup of “Joe.”

Open seven days a week from 7 AM to 8 PM Mon­day through Fri­day and 8:30 AM to 7 PM on Sat­ur­day and Sun­day, Peace and a Cup of Joe is housed in a build­ing that dates back to the nine­teenth cen­tury. Orig­i­nally a family’s home, “the orig­i­nal com­mode was still out­side,” Long said. He fur­nished the dwelling with com­fort­able styl­ish sofas and pil­lows in nat­ural col­ors and painted the walls: rust, light brown and gold­en­rod. “I had fall foliage in mind,” he added.

The Peace and a Cup of Joe’s sand­wiches are orig­i­nal and rea­son­able. I had a veg­gie sand­wich for $6.00 served on focac­cia bread. The mush­rooms, red onions, pep­pers and cucum­bers were mar­i­nated in a bal­samic vinai­grette. Tast­ing it was like a melody in my mouth, a blend­ing of all the flavors.

My com­pan­ion had the chicken salad which was also served on focac­cia bread for $7.00. Served with let­tuce, onion, tomato and salt and pep­per, the chicken salad was creamy, not too “may­on­naisey” and not too dry. Very good.

All sand­wiches come with a choice of an indi­vid­ual bag of a vari­ety of Utz chips, pret­zels, or cheese balls.

Long, who has a back­ground in indus­trial engi­neer­ing and infor­ma­tion tech­nol­ogy, and served in the U.S. Air Force, vis­ited cof­fee shops all over the world. “Many of them were holes in the wall with old, ratty couches. Or they were too com­mer­cial, uncom­fort­able,” he said.

A native of New York, Long has lived in the Bal­ti­more area since 1986. “I wanted Peace and a Cup of Joe to be the kind of place a lawyer or a doc­tor could feel just as com­fort­able as a stu­dent or a blue col­lar worker. Any­one can pull out a stool at one of the tables, play a board game or relax upstairs in the liv­ing room,” he added.

CASSIE VANDEHEY

Cassie Vandehey’s red hair was tied back in a ker­chief when she took my “to go” order, a turkey bacon ranch wrap, for $6.00. I also asked for a Bal­ti­more half and half, lemon­ade and iced tea for $1.80.

The wrap was tangy with an herbal fla­vor and the blend of bacon, turkey and ranch was bal­anced, just right. The Bal­ti­more half and half was ice cold and tart, because I asked for unsweet­ened iced tea. Next time, I want to try it with sweet­ened tea.

Peace and a Cup of Joe has an espresso machine that Don Sanchez was work­ing for a cus­tomer. I watched him for a few moments, savor­ing the rich cof­fee aroma before I turned around to see each table in the shop filled.

Out­side, the mid­day sun was bright. Hot. But the light that fil­tered inside, illu­mi­nat­ing the tables was soft, wel­com­ing. It was a cozy, peace­ful scene.

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CARYN COYLE IS AN ADOPTED BALTIMOREAN. ASIDE FROM ANYTHING CHOCOLATE, HER FAVORITE FOODS ARE CHESAPEAKE BAY CRAB, SILVER QUEEN CORN, AND MARYLAND TOMATOES. SHE CAN BE EMAILED HERE.

PHOTOS BY CARYN COYLE

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