Prizes and ,1.50 lattes will likely draw crowds to Coffee Culture today for the store's grand opening at its new location.
Though it opened its doors in early December, the First Avenue shop, next to Goerings Book Store, will celebrate today with sales, music and giveaways including a pair of UF-Vanderbilt basketball tickets.
Customers can also submit their latte recipes in a contest. The top 12 winners will have their drinks named after them, and their drinks will be available to order.
"We're trying to involve our customers," said Alisa Rowe Kenney, who owns the business with her husband, Michael Kenney.
Coffee Culture's other Gainesville location has been in business on Northwest 13th Street for three years. In addition to coffee drinks and paninis, the First Avenue Coffee Culture also serves ice cream by Sweet Dreams, the shop's previous occupant.
The location will still have Coffee Culture's signature lending library and shelf of board games.
"We've got our comfy couches, which everyone said we had to have," Alisa Kenney said.
She hopes to have evening entertainment on the patio, she said. Most exciting, she said, is a new drink called maté, which contains a non-caffeine stimulant.
"You don't get the spike and crash you get out of caffeine," she said. "You get a spike and this slow decline downward."
To experiment with its effect, Michael Kenney said he and a co-worker took eight straight shots of the maté, which is usually mixed with milk.
"All we felt was really super energized," he said. "We felt like we wanted to go run a marathon."
Even though the new location is not directly on University Avenue, Alisa Kenney said she is not worried about it being out of the way.
"Everyone knows this pocket is back here," she said.
Jennifer Francis, a UF telecommunications sophomore, visited the shop for the first time Thursday and said she'd be back for more caramel lattes.
"It's a really nice place to sit out, especially when it's a nice day like today," she said.
