Outpost Café at Westville Brewery Brings Freshly Brewed Coffees and Teas to Downtown Westville

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There’s more than just beer brewing at the Westville Brewery, as Outpost Cafe is now brewing delicious coffees and teas within the shared tasting room space of the Downtown Westville brewery. For the soft opening Outpost Cafe is open mornings Fri-Sunday only.

Outpost Cafe offers a full coffee shop experience… from traditional drip coffee to more specialized varieties including cappuccinos, espresso, lattes, macchiatos and more!

They also carry a line of specialized fresh teas!

Both the coffees and teas are available hot or cold. (Outpost Cafe Instagram)

Outpost Cafe “coffee and tea shop” is now open mornings, within the Westville Brewery tasting room!

Outpost Cafe and the Westville Brewery are located in Downtown Westville, at the site of the old Westville Firehouse in the Westville Square building on Broadway. As a point of reference, in the very immediate area are the equally beloved Speranza Italian Kitchen, Lorenzo’s Cabana, and Schileen’s Pub… to name a few.

For Outpost Café at Westville Brewery, the new “pop-up shop” style coffee shop within a brewery concept opens up less than a month after New Jersey passed reformed liquor laws, which includes allowing craft beer breweries to brew and serve coffee and teas (and even offer soda!)

Up until the change of law in January, breweries were not allowed to serve coffees, teas or sodas… with only one exception in New Jersey, at another Gloucester County brewery which had been “Grandfathered” in to serve coffee.

While I’m not keeping a full track of conversions, I would imagine that the Outpost Cafe operating in the Westville Brewery has to be one of the first scenarios of a New Jersey brewery moving this quickly to fully utilize the new advantages provided by the State’s recently updated brewery laws!

Outpost Cafe owners John Herman and Matt Gargano at their new location, sharing the tasting room space of Westville Brewery.

Initially, Outpost Cafe was created by a partnership between two local “caffeine-oriented” business owners; John Herman of Chara Tea and Matt Gargano of Hallowed Grounds… who had originally joined forces to offer mobile and “pop-up” coffee and tea services to area businesses.

Then just a few weeks ago the pair were introduced to Louetta Rossi of The Westville Brewery… which is when the idea of the businesses sharing the brewery tasting room began to quickly evolve.

Literally in just two weeks the businesses finalized plans for Outpost Café Westville, and served their first cup of hot coffee to an eagerly awaiting customer!

It’s interesting to consider that while the cozy Downtown Westville district is home to several successful restaurants and businesses… there currently wasn’t a coffee shop set up on Broadway!

And Outpost Cafe makes a perfect addition to Westville’s growing small town commercial district.

A full coffee and tea experience awaits you at Outpost Cafe, located within the Westville Brewery

Secondly, sharing the tasting room space of Westville Brewery is a perfect match considering the brewery’s usage of the tasting room is in the afternoons and evenings… which leaves the comfortable seating and counter area of the tasting room available in the mornings to be utilized as a coffee shop for Outpost Cafe!

Outpost Cafe Westville poured their first cup of coffee on Valentine’s Day and I stopped in early that day to check out their setup, and try some of the delicious coffee.

Promotion for Outpost Café up to that point had been from several social media posts, and word seemed to of gotten out as by the time I left on my opening day visit there were about a dozen people enjoying delicious coffees and freshly brewed teas!

Valentine’s Day was the opening morning for the Outpost Cafe, which opened shop within the Westville Brewery!

For me, considering I already had a coffee earlier in the morning my choice for beverage at Outpost Cafe was one of their premium coffee specials… the Loco Coco which is an iced coffee drink with the flavors of chocolate and coconut. Topped with whipped cream and a chocolate sauce drizzle… it was absolutely delicious!

I also took home one of Char Tea cold teas… Blue Mango! It was deliciously refreshing with a lightly sweet taste. Perfect for a colder February afternoon but honestly I can’t wait to get to try this in the warmer months of summer!

As mentioned Outpost Cafe is utilizing the existing brewery tasting room, which provides a selection of table seating as well as the counter with high top stools.

The addition of the coffee shop did not require major changes to the tasting room area.

Honestly, the space is as well suited for sipping a freshly brewed hot cup of coffee as it is for sipping a freshly brewed cold beer!

Chara Teas are also available at Outpost Cafe, located in the Westville Brewery.

The coffee espresso/barista system as well as the coffee grinder were given a permanent spot off to far the side on the counter.

Coffee urns and the fresh tea containers are mobile and brought in to the space during the morning operating hours. When Outpost Cafe winds down for the day they put those items away… and Westville Brewery takes over later in the day

For now the hours of Outpost Cafe are 7am to 1pm… Friday-Sunday.

Outpost Cafe does offer a full menu of coffee, teas and specialty drinks… but they do still consider this a soft opening phase. Over time additional products will be introduced, as well as potentially extending the hours of the Outpost Café.

While I have your attention I’d also like to point out that in far back unit of the same building, Big Swerve has set up a permanent location for his delicious BBQ and Catering business. I’ve been in touch with Big Swerve a few times but haven’t covered him yet for the website… that will be coming very soon.

Big Swerve’s associated catering hall Stella’s Cafe is available for party’s and events. On March 2nd they are hosting a Comedy Show! Tickets available here.

The Outpost Café team hopes to make Westville the first of many locations! Hotels, businesses and more would benefit from having Outpost Café manage your caffeinated beverage offerings. Reach out!

Chara Tea

Chara Tea is based out of Swedesboro New Jersey and is owned by John Herman, who served in the US Army in Iraq.

During his time in Baghdad, John befriended a local named Abbas. Abbas and John would catch up from time to time and enjoy conversations while drinking chai tea. That love for chai tea has now grown into a local South Jersey business which uses a proprietary tea extraction process to maximize flavor.

Chara Tea are a short walk from thousands of South Jersey fruit trees, and they look to utilize locally grown produce for their tea and beverage creation process.

Freshly brewed iced teas, at Outpost Cafe in Westville, NJ

Hallowed Grounds Coffee Co

Matt & Christine opened Hallowed Grounds in August 2021 at a Gloucester County farmer’s market. A coffee vendor was needed for the market, so the couple decided to give it a try… and to their surprise, there were a hit!

Today, Hallowed Grounds is a full service mobile cafe experience specializing in catering and private events. Elevate any event with our specialty drinks, a custom menu, and several additional options to create your perfect cafe. You may also find us at various festivals and public events throughout the tri-state area.

The Hallowed Grounds Coffee team (minus one). Image: Hallowed Grounds

Westville Brewery

Westville Brewery first opened in 2018, owned then by a group of four friends who started the small brewery in an interesting small Westville former fire hall space.

Today the brewery is owned by Louetta Rossi who took over ownership in July of 2022. Louetta is an area school teacher who was looking for a local business that she could grow with as she moved closer towards, and then into retirement.

Today the Westville brewery times carries on that same original tradition of brewery, while also introducing interesting new beers and concepts!