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Loba Pastry Opens Thursday With Cold (And Hot) Coffee, Warm Pastries

By Janet Rausa Fuller | January 20, 2016 1:31pm

Val Taylor (r.) opens Loba Pastry + Coffee with partner Coyote DeGroot on Thursday. [DNAinfo/Janet Rausa Fuller]

LAKEVIEW — Yes, Val Taylor realizes it's cold and snowy outside, but when she opens Loba Pastry + Coffee at 7 a.m. Thursday in the former Bad Wolf Coffee storefront, there will be Kyoto-style cold-brew coffee. Deal with it.

"I'm the kind of person that likes iced coffee all year round," said Taylor, who baked at Bad Wolf under owner Jonathan Ory before taking over the lease when he moved to Charleston, S.C.

While the Yama slow drip tower, which looks at home in a chemistry lab, will no doubt command attention, Taylor's pastries are the showcase at Loba. This week's selection will include cardamom chocolate muffins, pimiento cheese biscuits, nut bars and a pastry that Taylor hasn't figured out a name for.

"It's like an orange blossom petit four," she said.

There might be ham-and-cheese kouign amann (Ory was known for his sweet kouign amann) — if not Thursday, then on the weekend, she said.

The-earlier-the-better advice still applies for those wanting a pastry.

"I'm still working with one oven, so quantities will be very limited until I figure out the swing of things," Taylor said.

She and partner Coyote DeGroot are starting out with two West Coast boutique coffee roasters, Sightglass and Supersonic, and hard-to-find teas from New York purveyor In Pursuit of Tea, which is DeGroot's passion (aside from cool eyewear; he also owns the Ukrainian Village shop Labrabbit Optics).

"Tea is often overlooked or it's more like a concession," DeGroot said. "We're obviously totally invested in carrying really interesting coffee, but tea is definitely not taking a backseat."

The opening comes a little over than a month after they had projected they would open. Taylor said slow city activity over the holidays was part of the delay.

Loba Pastry + Coffee will be open 7 a.m.-3 p.m. every day except Tuesday, its off day.

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