DURHAM- With lively decorations, delicious food and prime location right on Madbury Road, Rise + Grind stands apart from other typical coffee places. The coffee shop is an extension of the neighboring restaurant, Hop + Grind, and celebrated their second year anniversary on Feb. 1. 

Rise + Grind’s general manager, Dayna Dicola, has been working for Hop + Grind for three years, before helping create Rise + Grind. She said the idea came about when the previous coffee shop, Saxby’s, was going out of business, leading to a vacant space. Their hope was to have the same energy as Hop + Grind.   

“We wanted it to be similar to Hop + Grind and kind of have the same vibe. That’s why we call it a coffee bar, that’s why everything is on draft. We just wanted to keep the culture the same between both locations,” said Dicola.

While there’s a lot of attributes that separates them from other coffee shops, their most special one is their draft coffee. 

“Our draft system is pretty unique. There’s not many coffee shops that I’ve seen that have 12 designated tabs for hot and iced coffee,” said Dicola. “So the fact that we do hot coffee on draft is pretty cool. That’s very different.” 

To celebrate their anniversary and Valentine’s Day, Rise + Grind welcomed new flavors of coffee and cream cheese for the month of February. Coffee flavors include white mocha, white mocha raspberry and a chocolate truffle sauce. For cream cheese they added a red velvet cheesecake flavor.

Throughout their two years, Rise and Grind has prided themselves on creating good quality items that leave a lasting impression on their customers. 

“All of our sandwiches are made to order. All of our meats are made in house and cream cheese,” said Dicola.”We take all of our time and effort to make sure we are putting out quality food with the best price.” 

A lot of work goes into the shop. Weekend work days could look like coming to the shop at 6:00a.m. and leaving around 3:00p.m. However, feedback from the customers makes it all worth it, according to Dicola.

“People just come here saying they love our food, our coffee, our customer service. I take pride in how good all of our employees are,” she said. 

Despite being fairly new, Rise + Grind looks forward to their future and the many more anniversaries to come. Their overall goal is to continue the positive work they have started.  

“We just want to continue good quality food, coffee and service, as usual,” said Dicola.