[UPDATED] Render Coffee to Open a Second Location This Spring

Render Coffee’s second location at the Cambridge Innovation Center. / Photo courtesy of CIC Boston

UPDATE, April 7: Render Coffee is now open at 121 Devonshire St., Boston Restaurant Talk reports.

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A coffee lover’s café popular in the South End is planning an expansion. Render Coffee, with one location on Columbus Ave., has partnered with a downtown co-working space and will open up a coffee shop in their building as early as April, owner Christopher Dadey says.

Cambridge Innovation Center’s Boston location was looking to offer an inviting place for its employees, as well as the downtown community, to get a cup of coffee, spokesman Geoff Mamlet says. The company approached Dadey about operating it.

“We are looking to expand to our brand … [and] a lot of our values match up: We’re both high-tech, and customer-service driven,” Dadey says.

The 51-seat, Render Coffee shop will have its own entrance at 121 Devonshire St., and next door will be a meeting and reception space, managed by CIC, that Render will have occasional access to for public tastings, cuppings, and other events, Dadey says. CIC had the café fully in the works by the time they reached out to Dadey in January, he says, so construction is nearly complete. Pending approval of his food-service license during a hearing next week and the green light from the final health inspector, he hopes to open the first week in April.

The downtown Render will not serve the sandwiches and heartier breakfast items available at the flagship. It will open with Nashoba Brook Bakery and Iggy’s Bread pastries, and eventually, Dadey will expand the baked goods to include more local bakeries.

It will have a full espresso and pour-over coffee menu, as well as a drip program “for the commuters going to work,” Dadey says. Render uses Tandem and Gracenote coffee roasters. The South End café focuses on pour-overs; without a carafe of drip coffee at the ready, it often takes a few minutes to get your cup to go.

In 2014, Boston magazine called Render “worth the wait” and awarded it best coffee shop. It also earned that distinction from the Boston Globe (2013), and was named one of the best coffee shops in America by the Daily Meal.

Render Coffee, 563 Columbus Ave., South End, Boston, 617-262-4142, rendercoffeebar.com.

UPDATE, March 25, 11:30 a.m.: Following a conversation with Render Coffee owner Christopher Dadey, this article has been updated.