Soif Opens Italian Coffee Bar on West Main

Jesse Gerstl grew up in Italy, where the coffee bar is the town square. He built that at 331 West Main: 13 seats, no WiFi, espresso by day and spritzes at night.

Jesse Gerstl owns Delafia, the natural wine bar on Foster Street. His new project draws from somewhere older: the corner coffee bar he grew up around in Italy, where a counter and an espresso serve as a neighborhood gathering place. Soif opened at 331 West Main Street inside the Snow Building, a 1930s art deco structure in downtown Durham.

The space has 13 seats, no WiFi, and a deliberate narrowness. Gerstl's intent is a place to stand at a counter and talk to someone, not sit alone with a laptop.
Espresso and coffee anchor the daytime menu. Evenings shift to low-ABV drinks: spritzes and aperitif cocktails alongside three classics, a Manhattan, a Negroni, and a Martini.
Adam Sobsey, who has been behind the bar at Delafia since it opened, is the opening bartender at Soif.

Hours are 8 a.m. to 10 p.m. weekdays, midnight on Fridays and Saturdays, closed Sundays. West Main has added several food and drink tenants over the past few years as the Snow Building and surrounding blocks have filled in.

The space has 13 seats, no WiFi, and a deliberate narrowness. Gerstl's intent is a place to stand at a counter and talk to someone, not sit alone with a laptop.
Espresso and coffee anchor the daytime menu. Evenings shift to low-ABV drinks: spritzes and aperitif cocktails alongside three classics, a Manhattan, a Negroni, and a Martini.
Adam Sobsey, who has been behind the bar at Delafia since it opened, is the opening bartender at Soif.