Coffee and a cure

For the team behind The Alechemy Room – 22646 Woodward Avenue, Ferndale – opening a coffee shop that also had a taproom, along with the recent addition of a full absinthe menu, was a no-brainer. “It’s something I don’t think we see very often,” said David Leslie, operational manager of WAB Co., who run The Alechemy Room, along with the WAB (Woodward Avenue Brewery), the Emory, and The Loving Touch, all in Ferndale. “We get a lot of coffee houses that are closing early and we don’t have a lot of after dinner/drink speciality kind of places.” Much like their rotating beers – currently on tap are the Woodward Avenue Blonde and Detroit Maiden IPA, among others – their coffees will also rotate, focused on using local roasters, like Fourth Dimension Coffee Company in Pontiac. If you want coffee with a bit of a kick there’s their boozy coffees, which feature Kahlúa, and include Spanish, Irish, and Italian varieties. There’s also homemade cookies and muffins, and specialty sandwiches, like a California Turkey, chickpea salad sandwich, and Reuben. The Alechemy Room, which opened in November, has plans to expand their hours in 2020 and add a cafe loading zone. Metro Intelligencer is a monthly column devoted to news stories, tidbits and gossip items about what's happening on the restaurant scene in the metro Detroit area. Metro Intelligencer is reported/created each month by Dana Casadei who can be reached at DanaCasadei@DowntownPublications.com with news items or tips, on or off the record.