Working as a coffee professional has allowed Kyle Evans to live in some beautiful places. He worked in Hawaii for the Honolulu Coffee Company and in California for Blue Bottle Coffee before he and his wife returned home to Kansas City with their twin boys to be close to family and open a coffee shop of their own. Evans reconnected with the chefs Ryan Brazeal and Jessica Armstrong, co-owners of Novel restaurant in the Crossroads, and when the conversation turned to coffee, Brazeal asked Evans to collaborate on a walk-up coffee window. It’s located in the small landing leading up to the second floor in the Novel building. With plenty of shady outdoor seating for customers to linger, the trio opened Penrose Coffee in July, serving six and eight-ounce barista coffee drinks made from beans that Evans roasts under his own coffee brand, Cielo. The coffee is accompanied by a host of delicious and rotating pastries crafted by Armstrong and pastry chef Hannah Lewis specifically for the walk-up coffee counter. The opening pastry menu had tantalizing options, including French canelé, marble bread, blueberry shortbread, chocolate pistachio biscotti, French macarons, pistachio pie bar, gluten-free coffee cake, and peach streusel muffins. Local artist Peregrine Honig was tapped to design everything from the orange awning to the interior of Penrose, using bright pops of orange for the countertops, mint-green coffee cups and an accent wall that uses repurposed skateboards as a centerpiece. Brazeal is an avid skateboarder, and the nod seemed to bring everything about Penrose Coffee full circle.
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