Monroe, Louisiana is a coffee-challenged city, and that has always surprised me. Coffee bars have come and gone there over the years (mostly gone, sadly), and aside from a Starbucks on Forsythe Avenue with unusually-limited hours and The Daily Press convenience stores, there aren’t many options. So when I saw on Facebook that something called RoeLa Coffee Roasters had opened in downtown Monroe on DeSiard Street, I was thrilled beyond words. My exhilaration turned to bitter disappointment when I discovered that the DeSiard address is basically a roastery and is not usually open to the public (although it is sometimes open for special events). RoeLa turned out not to be a solution to Monroe’s coffee-by -the-cup crisis, but I sent a text to the company to see if there was any place to buy RoeLa coffee retail in Monroe. As it turned out, there was such a place, the former Tiger Mart convenience store at 18th and Forsythe, now called Now Save, and better yet, they were open until midnight. Whole bean coffee from a local roaster at a convenience store seemed a long-shot, but after browsing the store for a period of time, I found a bag of something called Talla Bena blend. (Talla Bena is a wide spot in the road south of Tallulah in Madison Parish). Since I wouldn’t be able to enjoy it until I got home to Memphis, I also bought a bottle of RoeLa Creola Iced Coffee, which proved to be delicious and refreshing. I made the Talla Bena blend coffee in the week after I returned home from Monroe, using my automatic pour-over machine from Bodum. The coffee had a smooth finish, with notes of caramel and chocolate, and was quite delicious. Since it is not available in any Memphis stores, I’ll have to order some more of it from their website.
RoeLa Coffee Roasters
523 DeSiard St
Monroe, LA 71201
(225) 939-2537
https://roelaroaster.com