Coffee Worth The Drive - Brian Davis and Jiva Java Cafe

A lot of people say they want to open a coffee shop. Far fewer realize what actually makes one worth driving for. We’re joined by Brian Davis of Jiva Java Cafe in Bartonsville, PA, and we get honest about the craft, the workload, and the small choices that turn a “good idea” into a place locals rely on for their daily espresso. 

Brian shares how he and his wife spent years traveling and always hunting for a great cup of coffee and how that habit eventually became the blueprint for launching their own cafe in Northeast Pennsylvania. We talk about building a menu that starts with coffee quality first, then grows into baked goods made in house, including their signature Persian Love Cake, plus sandwiches and seasonal additions. Along the way, he explains why sourcing from nearby local producers matters when you want a true community cafe, not just another stop for caffeine. 

One of the biggest takeaways is about consistency: a great latte is not just good beans and a good machine. Brian breaks down why practice and experience are the difference maker, including the kind of patient training that can take weeks before a barista is trusted to work solo. If you care about specialty coffee, espresso drinks, and the real behind-the-scenes of running a local business, you’ll leave with a new respect for what’s happening on the other side of the counter. 

Subscribe for more conversations with Northeast PA business owners, share this with your coffee-obsessed friend, and leave a review telling us how far you’d drive for a truly great cappuccino.

Transcript

Welcome To The Show

SPEAKER_00 0:00

This is the Good Neighbor Podcast, the place where local businesses and neighbors come together. Here's your host, Joe Longo.

SPEAKER_01 0:12

What's up, everybody? Welcome back to the Good Neighbor Podcast Live, Northeast PA edition. Are you in need of a good cup of coffee or maybe just a space to sit down and relax with some friends? Well, that might be closer than you think. And today I have the pleasure of introducing your good neighbor guest, Brian Davis with Jiva Java Cafe. How are you, my friend? How are you doing?

SPEAKER_02 0:36

Doing great, Joe. Thanks for asking. How are you doing?

Why Jiva Java Opened

SPEAKER_01 0:38

I'm doing pretty good. I'm doing pretty good. As we were talking before we hit record, we were um, you know, celebrating our barbers because they're doing a great, they're doing a great job. Um, so uh I'm doing good. I would love it if you can tell all of the listeners about Jiva Java and a little bit about yourself and what's going on.

SPEAKER_02 1:00

Well, uh Jiva Java cafe that uh my wife and I opened up uh coming on three years now uh that we've been open. Uh we it was just uh a we used to travel a lot and we found that everywhere everywhere that we traveled, we were always out seeking a good cup of coffee. Sometimes we found it, sometimes we didn't. And as our traveling life uh started to wind down, we realized that that was kind of an important part of our experience. And I was in construction for a while, wanted to find a gentle exit from that business. It was killing me, it was breaking my body. And so decided that would be a good transition. That's what we did.

SPEAKER_01 1:38

Wow. So three years and uh tell us about the the cafe, a little bit about what you you've created.

SPEAKER_02 1:49

Our our primary focus is the coffee, uh, the espresso. That that's that's where we when we first opened, that was pretty much what we had with just a few baked goods. And and as we've expanded our menu, that is still our highest priority, that we can create a good cup of uh good cappuccino or a good cup of coffee. And we also began baking our own products, and so now we we offer muffins and scones and uh what we our signature uh piece is called the Persian Love Cake. Uh, we do a lot of other things as well, some sandwiches. Uh going to be adding some salads here in a little while as the weather warms up. Uh almost all of it is made in-house. What we don't make in-house, we get from other local producers uh within driving distance.

SPEAKER_01 2:35

Wow, that's awesome. So I'm curious, uh, who are you do you have a baker? Are you the baker? Um I'm one of the bakers.

SPEAKER_02 2:42

Uh I I work with a few other people and we and we we uh try some dishes, we refine it, taste amongst ourselves, we allow some of our more uh consistent customers to get into the the uh experience and put in their own two cents, what they like, what we can tweak. And then by the time we've uh decided on a recipe and put it on the menu, I'd say four at least four or six people have looked at it and tasted it, usually a few more as well.

SPEAKER_01 3:09

That's awesome. So it really is like a wonderful community collective of what what goodies can we make today?

SPEAKER_02 3:17

Absolutely.

What It’s Really Like Running A Cafe

SPEAKER_01 3:18

I love it. So I'm curious. In my how do I say this? In my reality, I hear a lot of people say, I wanna I wanna have a coffee shop. What are some of the misconceptions or myths about that industry of I I want to have a coffee shop?

SPEAKER_02 3:38

I think the biggest one is is that people lose sight of the fact that it is a job, that they imagine that they're gonna open the doors and just sit there and chat and hang out, and it's gonna be fun. And get don't get me wrong, it it is a lot of fun, but it's also a lot of work. I mean, you you you've done your own business for for quite a while. You know that there's no one that's gonna crack the whip for you. You have to crack your own whip. And so it it there is responsibilities that go along with it, and a lot of times people don't consider those if they decide that's what they want to do. Now, if you do want to do it, it's it's incredibly rewarding. You get to you know open up your own doors every day, you get to interact with the people, you're getting live feedback on the product. They like it, they they they they want to help you tweak it, whatever it might be. When you're done, you get the the pleasure and the joy of knowing that everything that you did today benefited you and other people around you. So it's it's a really a great process, but don't forget the work involved.

Who Drives For Great Coffee

SPEAKER_01 4:42

Yeah, that's that's the that's the part of it. Don't forget the work. I had somebody once say that to me, and I instantly replied back with, Are you a morning person? And and they said no. And I was like, most people are drinking coffee in the morning, so that might be a little that might be a little tricky. Um so marketing obviously is the heart of just about every business. Who uh who's your target and how are you getting them in the door?

SPEAKER_02 5:10

That's that's that's the big challenge. And if you've got any any key insights, any secrets, I'd love to hear them. Um yeah, the the uh really it's anybody that's within driving distance. Uh and the question really then is how far would you drive for a good cup of coffee? And for some people, they're not gonna drive very far at all. Other people, I've I've had people drive half an hour. There was there's a few uh resorts in the area geared towards families that have coffee on site, but it may not be the best coffee that you can get. And they'll drive 15-20 minutes in order to come down and get get one of our coffees, which I really appreciate that they'll make that try. Clearly, they enjoy coffee as much as I do.

Deep Conversations Beyond Coffee

SPEAKER_01 5:49

Yes, yes. And I'm right there with you with a good cup of coffee and willing to drive if if I have to. Um so what um have you ever thought, and I think you have ever thought about having a podcast chatting about coffee?

SPEAKER_02 6:09

Not about not about uh coffee. I have done it in the past. It is something that I do enjoy. And I think when I when I've done, I've I've played, I've dabbled in the podcast world, never with great success, but I did it was always something that I enjoyed having very deep conversations, you know, getting below the surface of things. And the podcast is a great way to do that. Uh I am finding, and not something I expected, but it with what I'm doing now and spending my days at the coffee shop, is that I get a lot of that into those conversations with people. Uh, people that are coming in regularly, we can have get below the surface beyond the weather and the traffic and have some good conversations.

Life Outside The Shop

SPEAKER_01 6:48

Yeah, that is a bonus. I mean, and obviously I love it, and that just the conversation and knowing that I I can stay here in my house and have the conversations as well, is is that that extra bonus. So, with all of the coffee, um, what are you doing outside of the shop?

SPEAKER_02 7:08

Uh well, if if I'm gonna be honest, and and I feel like we we've developed a rapport here in the last uh seven minutes that I can be honest. Um I I don't have a lot of time. But when I do have a little bit of time, I I have been getting into a bit of woodworking, which I've been enjoying. Um I do try and get outside as much as I can. I I have a very tolerant wife that um understands I can't I don't have a lot of free time, but every now and then we do get a chance to get onto the trails or we do some rock climbing together. Uh we have an old uh 1978 Kawasaki motorcycle that we like to ride from time to time.

SPEAKER_01 7:43

That sounds like fun. Um I'm curious about the woodworking. I too love woodworking. Um, what what kind of what are you dabbling in?

SPEAKER_02 7:52

I have uh a plan for a bookcase. I haven't haven't gotten beyond the planning phase of that one yet. Um but I am looking forward to it. It's it's gonna push my my boundaries. I did when I when I so I did a lot of the work on the cafe myself. I did most of the work myself. And so um I I have because of my construction background, I'm fairly comfortable in that, but I did get to push my boundaries. I I built a couple of the the cabinets that were in there, and each one I tried something a little more challenging. Uh, I built the the tables. Actually, my mother-in-law helped me build the table, she she was a part of that process as well. Um, so yeah, I I I think one of the reasons why I like the woodworking is that you're you're always growing your your knowledge base, you're always challenging yourself, you're always uh moving beyond your comfort zone.

Why Training Makes Better Espresso

SPEAKER_01 8:43

I love it. And that the whole process of I have a plan, there's a plan, and it is going to come to life. Walking through the beautiful woods here in Northeast PA, um, I I found this big piece of bark that fell off the tree. And I'm like, I have to carry that home with me because I need to do something with it. And it's still sitting in the garage waiting for the thing to be done to it, whatever that may be. I have an idea, I have a plan. I think it might become a guitar holder. Um but it's it's still just sitting there with the little bit of the plan in my in my head. Um you can't brush these things. You can't, right? It's like a fine wine. It's it's gonna be ready when it's ready. And and I'm okay with it until I hear the word that you gotta get that out of there. Um then I'll speed it up. So if you can tell our listeners one thing that they can remember or think about at Jiva Java Cafe.

SPEAKER_02 9:47

Oh one thing.

SPEAKER_01 9:49

Um are you referring to you know something that we do or Yeah, like something you do, something that that if you were if we were hanging, if you saw me in the elevator, what's the one thing you would tell me about your cafe?

SPEAKER_02 10:07

Okay. Um I I I think, and this comes back to what one of the questions earlier was you know, the the things that people uh misunderstand about the challenges of the business. And that is that to make a good espresso-based drink, cappuccino, latte, whatever it might be, it takes a good machine, it takes a good cup of coffee. But the one thing that people often forget is that it takes practice and experience. And the the people that we have been working with at the cafe, um, I tracked it one time with one of their employees. She was working for seven weeks before she was trusted to make a latte on her own. And so when you come into our cafe, knowing that the person that is making your drink has spent a lot of time building up the experience and having someone check on their process, knowing that they're going to get a good cup of uh coffee because of that. And and I think, and I don't want to you know say that other people no one else cares as much as we do, although that may be true. But um there are other, I think there are other places that do rush the process, the the training process, because they don't understand uh the the complexity and the challenge that can go into it.

SPEAKER_01 11:22

So, where can our listeners learn more about Jiva Java and where are you located if if they want to drop in and grab that cup of coffee?

SPEAKER_02 11:31

Well, the best place would be to come on in and and check us out there. The the address, we're in Bartonsville, uh here in uh Monroe County, Northeast PA. Uh the address is 3427 Route 611. Uh, we do have a website, uh, it's givajava.cafe. We do have presence on Facebook and on uh Instagram and TikTok and all everything else. You know, the bas it's uh I think all of them our handle is Juva Java Cafe. J-I-V-A, J-A-V-A, C-A-F-E. Um, but best best thing to do is to come on in and check it out in person.

SPEAKER_01 12:07

Yeah, definitely, everybody. Stop in, get yourself a cup of coffee. Brian, thank you so much for taking the time to chat. It's always fun to reconnect with you. And I look forward to stopping in and having a cup of coffee. And from everyone at the Good Neighbor Podcast, we wish you all of the success and luck in the future.

SPEAKER_02 12:25

Well, thank you, Joe. Appreciate it. And to you as well.

SPEAKER_01 12:27

Thank you.

SPEAKER_00 12:29

Thank you for listening to the Good Neighbor Podcast. To nominate your favorite local businesses to be featured on the show, go to GNPNEPA.com. That's GNPNEPA.com. Or call 572, 9808, 488.