O’Henry’s Coffee // Cozy and Comforting

Tuscaloosa runs on coffee….lots and lots of coffee. For the size of our community, I’m often impressed with the number of coffee shops that we have in the place that I call home. Sure we’ve got our national chains like Starbucks and Dunkin Donuts, but we’ve also got plenty of cozy locally owned businesses in town. Newest to this mix is the Birmingham-based OHenry’s Coffee which made its debut to Ttown in October.

Opening its first location in Homewood in 1993 by Dr. Henry Bright and his wife Beverly, not many patrons are familiar with how the coffee shop got its name. According to Mrs. Bright, she would lovely yell “Oh Henry…” as she would remind Dr. Bright of something else as he ran out the door each morning. Fast-forward to 1999, with Randy and Mary Adamy purchasing OHenry’s Coffees and dedicating themselves to learning all the coffee knowledge that Dr. Bright poured into the coffee shop.

Having been to a few of the locations in the Birmingham area, I knew that I had to make an appearance at the fifth location in my home of Tuscaloosa. I’ve always appreciated the cozy atmosphere that OHenry’s is known for and the understood agreement that the staff doesn’t mind if you stay with them all day long. According to OHenry’s owner Randy Adamy, his mission is to make people happy while serving them. “You just want people to walk in our shop, inhale the coffee atmosphere, and instantly have a better day. We just want to be that for people…a place to make them feel good and forget about their day for just a bit,” says Adamy.

Walking into the downtown Tuscaloosa location on a blustery afternoon, there is no doubt my demeanor changed as I inhaled the atmosphere of the shop and noticed the cool, collected, assortment of patrons chatting, relaxing, and studying in the shop. Sure I was coming in for coffee, but the first thing that caught my eye was how unique the all day food menu was compared to the other OHenry’s locations I had been to. My eyes danced to the Moroccan lentil soup, and then jumped to the kale, quinoa, and brown rice salad. I then made a mental note to come back for breakfast the next morning to have a Conecuh cheddar biscuit.

Truth be told, it was hard to leave OHenry’s that day. As I sipped my mocha latte, I knew that the rest of my day would be great because I finally had a chance for some “me” time. I have a feeling that other patrons felt the same way as well. With a staff that was warm and welcoming, there was no question that they took pride in the company and products. Though this story started in Birmingham, I think it will be easy for Tuscaloosa to call OHenry’s its own.

OHenry’s Coffee is located at 2531 University Boulevard, Suite 100 and opened daily. Tweet us @ThePlanetWeekly and let us know where you are eating!

 

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