BY KATHY CHANG
Staff Writer
KATHY CHANG Tina Ahmadi and Mukti Desai stand near the variety of coffees they sell at their Java’s Brewin’ in Metuchen. METUCHEN — Owning their own coffee shop is something Tina Ahmadi and Mukti Desai always wanted to do.
Now they have.
“We have been friends for 12 years and we talked about it for a lot of those years,” said Ahmadi.
Ahmadi and Desai own the shop, even though Java’s Brewin’ is a franchise. Because it’s theirs, they were able to lay out and design the interior of the store.
“The lights, the colors, the couches, the chairs, the tables were all done by us,” said Ahmadi.
Ahmadi and Desai opened Java’s Brewin’ on Dec. 4 and are dedicated to providing the “full café experience.”
That includes free high speed Wireless Internet access with each visit and a partnership with Hot Spot Books, which is an on-line site.
“It has been a positive experience,” Ahmadi said. “We have a different crowd from the elderly to the children. We looked around for a while, and Metuchen’s location was just right.”
The partnership with Hot Spot Books allows the two to sell books off the New York Times Top 10 list .
The store also has a list of books that customers can buy on the Hot Spot Books Web site, said Ahmadi.
“The books are also wrapped to go if you want to give someone a gift,” she said.
“In the future, we are also going to try to sell textbooks for students at a discounted price,” said Ahmadi.
“Customers can either buy the book in the store or order the book from hotspotbooks.com and if the customer wants the book wrapped, they will send it wrapped,” said Ahmadi.
Live music will also be featured each month.
“We have received a great response and we are looking for more artists,” said Ahmadi.
The next live music will be on Jan. 6 from 3 to 5 p.m.
Ahmadi and Desai hope to incorporate an open mike night and poetry readings within a year.
Java’s Brewin’ specializes in gourmet coffee and fresh muffins baked daily, as well as panini sandwiches and breakfast sandwiches. There is a large variety of specialty drinks and coffees, from espresso and cappuccino to chais and lattes. Catering is also available and features specialty platters of muffins, bagels, homemade flavored cream cheeses, croissants, sandwiches and more.
Java’s Brewin’ is located on 545 Middlesex Ave. For more information call (732) 548-1900.