Coffee Talk at the corner of South College Street and Samford Avenue opened its doors Tuesday, Sept. 22, 2009. In their first week of business, the experience has been better than they planned.

“We have seen more people walking in, in awe of how it is set up,” said Karen Oshel, owner. “This lets us explain that we really just want it to be welcoming.”

Coffee Talk was started by Oshel and her husband as a ministry to college students. It is a family run business. The name came from Oshel’s daughter and granddaughter. Oshel explained how they had always dreamed of starting a coffee shop and what it would offer. This was the name they always envisioned it would be given. Oshel had previously worked in the restaurant business and spent many hours away from home. With a retired husband and a 15-year-old at home, starting a family business was going to give her more time for her family.

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“We opened it as an extension of our home,” said Oshel. “We opened Coffee Talk as a family project to extend our family to the students.”

They have created a layout that allows the shop to look like a family home. From the moment the front door opens. It has a feeling of being in someone’s house. The smells of coffee and baked goods overwhelm the senses. The rooms are similar to living rooms and dining rooms. Oshel says that they have always kept their home open to people, and this allowed them to open a home to others. The rooms are large enough to accommodate a group meeting as well as the busy student in search of a quite study spot.

“We wanted it to be a place for students to come to that does not involve alcohol and allows them the peace and quiet to do their work in a family atmosphere,” said Oshel.

Coffee Talk offers a wide variety of goods other than the freshly ground coffee. Everything is made from scratch in the open kitchen behind the register. They serve breakfast goods as well as lunch and dinner plates, complete with side items for the choosing. For those with a sweet tooth, they also offer a variety of baked goods such as cookies, cakes and pies. They also offer free wifi to those needing to use the internet.

They are open Monday-Saturday 7 a.m. - 10 a.m. and are closed on Sunday. They are located at 369 South College Street in Auburn.