Canvas Coffee House

Canvas Coffee House, a specialty coffee shop located at 2170 William Styron Square S in Port Warwick, is celebrating its second anniversary in business this week. Owned and operated by CNU graduates Daniel Haskett and Alex Hoyes, the coffee house has an open and inviting floor plan where customers can watch their coffee being made and also offers a monthly coffee subscription service that has patrons from states up and down the east coast.

After graduating from CNU, Haskett worked in real estate but had a passion for bringing people together in collaborative ways and wanted to use coffee to do so. Haskett partnered with Hoyes, who brought experience and deep knowledge of coffee to the venture. They developed a model for creating a good product centered on the French term “terroir,” which describes factors that affect a crop’s characteristics, including farming practices, soil, climate and terrain. These are taken into careful consideration as the owners choose specific farms from which to source their beans in places such as Columbia, Kenya, Ethiopia, Guatemala, Peru, Costa Rica and New Guinea. The beans are then mixed to create some of Canvas’ signature blends. The shop’s baristas play an important role in the success of the business and go through five months of training, not only to serve drinks but to also be able to educate customers about the coffee making process and the products they offer.

Haskett and Hoyes have plans for future growth and expansion, including building an additional location in Newport News with a coffee bar, bakery and a makerspace, allowing creatives to explore new ventures and have tools to innovate.

Learn more at canvascoffeehouse.com.