Coffee roasting is a delicate art, which customers can witness while enjoying a fresh cup at Narrative Coffee Roasters’ latest location.

Caleb MacPherson and business partner William Diaz-Garcia opened the company’s second spot in July at 1103 Central Ave. in downtown Naples. Narrative previously roasted its coffee offsite in a Lee County warehouse; the new location features a glass divider between the cafe and roasting area, where homebrewing classes can be held. “One of our goals in both shops is to bring more transparency to what we do, and oftentimes, there’s not a lot of transparency to where your coffee comes from and who has grown it,” MacPherson says. “We wanted the design aspect to reflect that transparency.”

The longer the visit, the more careful details customers are bound to notice, from the whitewashed, hand-laid brick walls to the floating black quartz bar. or the solid brass Narrative stylus logo poured into the concrete floor of the brand-new building. “We wanted to somehow create an open and inviting space that was also modern but had a high-end, almost lived-in vibe, so people would wonder what was there before us,” MacPherson says. For the record, the lot was previously home to Naples Daily News before it relocated to North Naples in 2009. With a sharp vision in mind, MacPherson said he and Diaz-Garcia handled much of the design themselves. “We just set a goal for what we wanted the overall space to look like, and every finish in there had to somehow point toward that goal. If it didn’t, it got cut,” he says.

MacPherson and Diaz-Garcia opened the first Narrative Coffee Roasters at 9106 Strada Place in Mercato on June 4, 2020, to bring a new type of gathering spot to Naples. “It really came from a desire to see spaces in our community where people could gather and share life, and it just so happens that coffee seemed to be the vehicle that worked best,” MacPherson says. The second location offers a similar, homey vibe, with lots of natural light, cozy seating areas and lush hanging and potted plants. “This spot, over on [Central Avenue], feels a lot more like a neighborhood gathering space than a coffee shop, which we really envisioned in the beginning,” he says.

Narrative Coffee Roasters may include more locations in the future, MacPherson said. “But we don’t have any leases signed yet.”