Gaslight Coffee Roasters Announce Soft Opening

Gaslight Coffee Roasters is coming to the vacant space at 2385 N. Milwaukee Ave. in Logan Square. Photo: Katherine Leonard

Gaslight Coffee Roasters (@gaslight_coffee), a project from Zak Rye and Tristan Coulter, will hit the Logan Square southeast corner of Milwaukee and Fullerton later this month.

I recently spoke with Rye and Coulter to see how things are going behind the paper-covered windows at their new location. The two say they’re actually getting really close to opening, although “it’s been a long and horribly difficult struggle” to get the space ready. For more on the trials and tribulations of opening a coffee shop, check out Sprudge’s series on all the schmuck work that goes into opening a new cafe.

Despite the struggles, Rye and Coulter always knew the location was perfect. Back when the two were working at Metropolis, they began discussing the possibility of opening their own shop. “Our list of neighborhoods began and ended with Logan Square,” Rye says. “We couldn’t be more excited to open in Logan; it’s the only way we have ever imagined it.”

It looks like those dreams are finally coming to fruition. With a soft opening planned for Aug. 16, the owners tell me that their coffees will likely be in beta—apparently a term no longer reserved for tech startups. In addition to Gaslight’s testing green coffees, the preview session also will feature beans from Halfwit Coffee Roasters, the new roasting operation behind Wormhole Coffee in Wicker Park.

Gaslight and Halfwit actually share a roastery space—the teams realized that “by banding together, [they] could create a space that would function as an epicenter for coffee geekery, advancement, and with any luck, evolution in independent coffee. The little guys have to stick together.”

Welcome to the neighborhood, Gaslight Coffee Roasters! We’ll share details about the soft opening as they become available. The shop will open at 2385 N. Milwaukee Ave.