Nativ Cafe Opens in White Salmon
Caffeine, culture, and community are all available at this new cafe.
The community flocked to the cafe to support the new business and to enjoy coffee, tea, and live music at the soft opening on July 31st, 2023. Photo Credit: Cole Goodwin
By Cole Goodwin
White Salmon, WA August, 2, 2023– Nativ Cafe welcomed a crowd of curious cafe goers into their new space at 166 E Jewett Blvd, (the old Northshore Cafe building) in White Salmon, during their soft opening on Monday.
The Cafe is the newest venture undertaken by brother’s Chris and Josh Durban who also run Pixan Taqueria & Cantina, just down the road. The two co-own the business along with Tom Clancy, a family friend who’s love of coffee has led him to spend nearly a decade in the specialty coffee world crafting an understanding of coffee culture, history, industry, and how to elevate the daily brew into an unforgettable experience.
Tired but happy, Chris and Maddison Durban and Tom Clancy were proud to see all their hard work coming together on opening day.
Tom Clancy, expressed gratitude to his sister Savannah for her support of the Cafe. Photo Credit: Cole Goodwin
At 21 years old Clancy is looking forward to setting down some roots and sharing his passion for coffee and tea with the community.
“We’re stoked to get creative and do a lot of things. There’s a lot of fun to be had in specialty coffee. One of our highest priorities is that everything we do is being done at a really high level,” said Clancy.
The cafe will serve ethical and sustainable, high-quality, direct from farmers coffee from Upper Left Roasters, and True Tea in Portland, OR.
One of Upper Left’s favorite picks of the Kenyan Harvest this year – and at it's freshest. A super clean, delicate roast but with a surprising amount of fruit character that make for a truly delicious cup.
Building relationships and trusted supply chains they can be proud of is important to the cafe, which only wants to serve the best of the best in specialty coffee and teas.
“Katherine, the person who started Upper Left eight years ago, went ahead and started True Tea two years ago. And her tea is incredible, I’m really proud of our tea” said Clancy.
Special thought has also gone into the small batch hand-bottled organic syrups which feature responsible sourced ingredients.
“We want to make sure we have really quality ingredients, and none of that nasty stuff,” said Clancy.
Photo Credit: Cole Goodwin
Nativ Cafe will also serve a drink that many locals may not have heard of before: kava.
Kava is a root that grows in the South Pacific which holds a traditional and cultural significance to Pacific islanders, who would crush, chew, or grind up the root and soak it in cold water to produce a drink for ceremonial purposes. It is traditionally served in a coconut shell.
Kava.
The drink is used to promote happiness and relaxation and contains stress-fighting compounds called kavalactones, which target the nervous system and also has sedative, mouth numbing, and muscle relaxing effects.
“It’s a little bit of a social and relaxing drink, it’s good after a long day of work,” said Clancy, “It helps with sleep and anxiety. It’s a really great alternative for those who don’t drink alcohol.”
Because the kava root has a very earthy-almost dirt like taste, it isn’t something one tends to drink for the flavor, but Clancy says they’ve been experimenting with adding chai and chocolate to make the drink more approachable to a variety of cafe-goers.
The menu also includes Hawaiian inspired sweets such as Li Hing Mui, an iconic and unique Hawaiian staple which has a distinct sweet, salty and sour flavor. As well as Asian and Pacific Islander inspired pastries such as savory scones with bonito flakes and manchego, gluten free butter mochi sweet rice cakes, piña colada bread, and shortbread cookies from Pastry Chef Durbin.
Savory scones with bonito flakes. Photo Credit: Cole Goodwin
The current menu. Photo Credit: Cole Goodwin
“The menu is small to start off with, it’s not our full menu yet, we’ll be scaling up as our capacity grows” said Clancy.
Clancy said some menu items, including boba and milk based beverages were still getting dialed in and while not currently available may be a part of the menu expansion in the future.
In the meantime, Clancy says the aim is to create a space with indoor and outdoor seating that is welcoming for people to get together and hang out together at the Cafe.
“We’ll have some diverse hours. Monday through Thursday we will be open from seven to three and Thursday through Sunday we will be open seven to seven,” said Clancy.
He also noted there were plans in the works to put on some open mics and other community events at the Cafe in the future and to set up a donation box to benefit locally indigenous peoples.
See you there! Photo Credit: Cole Goodwin
Also, keep reading for a review of our favorite menu items!
Cole’s Top 3 Picks at Nativ Cafe
Cole drinking organic Earl Grey at Nativ Cafe.
Ever since White Salmon’s local tea shop Chesser Roe closed down in White Salmon I’ve been eking out my stash of Chesser Roe teas and learning to make my own boba at home. So, of course, I had to try out some of Nativ’s menu and give you a sneak peak of my personal favorites!
(Full disclosure: I’m more of a tea person than a coffee person. Sorry to you coffee drinkers out there! You’ll just have to go and try it out for yourself. :)
#1 Kava Special
Kava gets the number one spot in my review for a few reasons. It’s something that is culturally significant, medicinal, it’s something you can’t get anywhere else in the gorge and…it works really well. Just a few sips took me from a solid 8 out of 10 on the stress to about a 4. I highly recommend that anyone who struggles with anxiety or insomnia try this beverage.
#2 Organic Earl Grey
Fans of Earl Grey take note, I have never smelled or tasted such a fragrant Earl Grey. So why is it such a cut above the rest? That’s because, thanks to Nativ Cafe’s farm direct sourcing, all the teas being served in the cafe are fresh from this year’s harvest, ensuring those bright citrus and warmed sugar notes really stand out.
#3 Organic Genmaicha
This green tea and roasted rice blend with soft notes of citrus is simply stunning. This tea’s mild and toasted rice flavor makes it hearty, comforting, and deeply satisfying. This tea is comfort food. It could easily have tied with Earl Grey for the second spot but I’m just a little bit more of a black tea than a green tea drinker.
That’s it for now! Thanks for reading! I’m looking forward to trying out more of the menu as it expands!
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