Jason Gonzalez is moving his 10-year-old Onyx Tonics from its current downtown Burlington spot at 126 College Street to 77 Pine Street, less than two blocks away. The new location was an outpost of Kestrel Coffee Roasters from March 2022 until mid-April of this year.
The two-time United Kingdom coffee-tasting champion said he was drawn to the Pine Street café for its “tall ceilings and nice big windows.” Gonzalez, 42, anticipates that the move to a slightly smaller space than his current one will allow staff to refocus on coffee over other offerings, such as pastries. “We’re a good coffee shop but a bad café,” he joked.
Onyx uses a broad range of single-origin beans sourced from Vermont roasters, including Abracadabra Coffee in Woodstock, Brio Coffeeworks in Burlington, Duchess Coffee in Brattleboro and little seed coffee roasters in Middlebury.
Gonzalez also recently launched his own line of beans, which he sells by the bag at the café. He selects and roasts what he called “rarer” coffees, such as Granja Paraíso 92’s orange bourbon variety from Colombia, which he described as “floral, aromatic and sweet.” Onyx beans are roasted at Carrier Roasting’s Waterbury facility in an electric roaster, which Gonzalez said has environmental benefits over more traditional gas-powered roasters.
Wednesday, October 28, is the café’s final day of operation on College Street; Gonzalez said he hopes to reopen in the new space the week of November 9.
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