Around Town

Mudhouse Specialty Coffee Roasters opens doors on King Street this week

By Emily Leayman and James Cullum
Mudhouse storefront with black awning and banners announcing 'Coming Soon!' above large windows and a wooden door.
Blue storefront sign reading 'MUDHOUSE CAFÉ' with a winged creature logo hanging above a sidewalk.
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The King Street corridor in Old Town is gaining another coffee shop as Mudhouse Specialty Coffee Roasters opens its doors this week.

Mudhouse will open on Wednesday (July 29) at 1119 King Street, staff confirmed to ALXnow. This will be the Charlottesville-founded coffee roaster’s sixth location, joining two in Charlottesville, and ones in Richmond, Crozet and Charleston, S.C.

Founded by John and Lynelle Lawrence as a coffee cart, Mudhouse serves coffee roasted in house and syrups made in house. Lindsey Simpkins, director of operations for Mudhouse, told ALXnow the menu also includes coffee-focused alcoholic drinks like an espresso martini and all-day breakfast.

Shelf display featuring white Mudhouse coffee bags with colorful labels on wooden shelves, plus a dark box with a cone-shaped accessory in the middle row and orange boxes on the bottom row.
Coffee varieties at Mudhouse Cafe (via Mudhouse Specialty Coffee Roasters)

Mudhouse’s coffee roasting is led by Master Roaster Eric Stone, who has been named Roast Magazine’s Roaster of the Year and earned top five finishes in the U.S. Roasting Championship. The Lawrences and Stone are certified Q Graders, an international distinction that is the coffee industry’s version of a master sommelier.

Mudhouse also owns its own coffee farm — Finca La Cabra in Panama — which it bought in 2016. The Lawrences regularly travel to Panama and serve as judges in the Best of Panama coffee competition. Looking forward, Mudhouse is aiming to establish a second farm in Hawaii.

According to a release, Mudhouse aims to provide high quality coffee and meaningful connections.

“We believe a coffee shop should be more than a place to grab a drink—it should be the first smile someone sees in the morning, a place where neighbors gather, conversations begin, and small moments become memorable ones,” the release said. “Every guest who walks through our doors deserves to leave feeling just a little better than when they arrived.”

The cafe offers two distinct areas — the front with plugs for computers and a back area with lower tables focused on socialization.

“Back here, we intentionally kept the tables lower and no plugs so people can be more in tune with each other,” Simpkins told ALXnow.

Cafe interior by a large window with two tea cups on a wooden counter, floral wallpaper, and round pendant lights.
Inside Mudhouse Cafe at 1119 King Street (via Mudhouse Specialty Coffee Roasters)
Cozy lounge area with black tufted leather seating and small round tables lit by candlelight in a dim room.
The back of Mudhouse Cafe at 1119 King Street (via Mudhouse Specialty Coffee Roasters)

Hours at Mudhouse’s Alexandria cafe are 7 a.m. to 7 p.m. Sunday to Thursday and 7 a.m. to 8 p.m. Friday to Saturday.

 

About the Authors

  • Emily Leayman is the editor of ALXnow and contributes reporting to ARLnow and FFXnow. She was previously a field editor covering parts of Northern Virginia for Patch for more than eight years. A native of the Lehigh Valley in Pennsylvania, she lives in Northern Virginia.

  • Reporter James Cullum has spent nearly 20 years covering Northern Virginia. He began working with ALXnow in 2020, and has covered every story under the sun for the publication, from investigative stories to features and photo galleries. His work includes coverage of national and international situations, as well as from the White House, Capitol, Pentagon, Supreme Court and State Department. He's covered protests and riots throughout the U.S. (including the Jan. 6 riot at the U.S. Capitol), in addition to earthquake-ridden Haiti, Western Sahara in North Africa and war-torn South Sudan. He has photographed presidents and other world leaders, celebrities and famous musicians, and excels under pressure.