On the far side of the windowed room sits the bright red roasting machine where owner Bob Weeks works his magic - turning the green seeds of a red fruit into the cherished thing we know as coffee.
The journey that led Weeks to the café, which opened Dec. 3, was a path with heart.
After losing his job at a top Boston ad agency in 2006, the art school graduate decided to focus on what he loved and expand his coffee-roasting hobby into an occupation. Incorporating as Redeye Roasters, he began selling beans to local businesses.
A couple years later, he opened a café truck, thinking he’d sell to travelers at the Greenbush commuter rail station. When that didn’t fly (most arrived too late to buy coffee), the vision began to form: Open a real café.
After searching Hingham Center and Square for more than a year, Weeks realized what he wanted.
“Every day I’d pass the Bare Cove building and think, ‘I need to be right there,’ ’’ said Weeks. “Finally, one day I stopped at the marina, asked a guy if he knew who owned the place, got Nick Bonn’s name and number, and called him.’’
After signing a lease with Bonn, Weeks began to gut the space in June. Much of the cafe, including the bar, was built by folk artist and furniture maker Rich Dunbrack of Martha’s Vineyard, and it captures the magical feeling that Weeks envisioned.
And the coffee? Frankly, I’ve been ruined by Redeye’s crazy-good, creamy lattes (made with Hingham’s Hornstra Farms milk) and haven’t found a cup as tasty anywhere else. They’re always a bit of a unique event, too, topped with “coffee art” - pretty surface designs made by pouring steamed milk carefully over espresso.
My other Redeye favorite is the cold-brewed iced coffee, aka a “toddy,’’ which, until now, were a once-a-week summer pleasure procured from Weeks’s café truck at the Hingham farmers’ market.
