Brookhaven has quickly become a coffee-lovers paradise with the opening of the King’s Daughters Medical Center coffee shop and the revamping of the 1905 coffee bar.

King’s Daughters Medical Center’s coffee shop celebrated its Chamber of Commerce ribbon cutting Thursday, although it officially opened in June.

The goal of the newly designed coffee shop is to create a welcoming place for not only hospital staff, but also the community, KDMC coffee shop head barista Jesse Freeman said.

“The coffee shop is a way to connect the community,” Freeman said. “People tend to look at hospitals as a dark place with sick people, but that is not always true. Hospitals bring life into this world, and we want the coffee shop to give people a different perspective of the hospital atmosphere.”

KDMC Food Service Manager Doris Moreton added, “This is something we wanted to do not only for our visitors, patients, and staff, but for the community as a whole. It’s a way for us to minister to others, offering a smile and encouragement when somebody may be experiencing a hectic or stressful day. The bonus is they get a wonderful cup of coffee or flavored drink, or one of the beautiful pastries from Janie’s.”

The hospital’s coffee shop is stocked with a variety of hot and cold drinks, ice cream and delicious pastries. The hot espresso drinks include lattes, cappuccinos and mochas made with Ghirardelli chocolate and Americano blends.

“The most popular drink so far has been the caramel macchiato with Ghirardelli caramel and vanilla,” KDMC barista Nicole Barnett said.

For those looking for a beverage to cool down in the Mississippi heat, Barnett suggests a frozen blended espresso-based frappe or a “freezee,” which is made with real fruit purees.

1905, formerly known as Fox’s Pizza, recently revamped its coffee bars by changing its hours of operation to become more assessable to the community, 1905 assistant general manger Frank Cannon said.

“We’ve actually always had a coffee bar,” Cannon said. “What we changed was the time that we open in the morning to offer the folks that are going to work in the morning the opportunity to come and enjoy our line of Crimson Cup coffees before they start their day.”

Cannon expects the new coffee bar hours to accommodate people of all walks of life in Brookhaven.

“Hopefully, it will open up awareness that local businesses can thrive and offer different services to different people in different walks of life,” Cannon said. “You have your retirees that are up early in the morning that want to come and get a cup of coffee, and just kind of hang out, relax and enjoy themselves in a quiet environment. Well, we have that. You’ve got the school mom dropping the kids off, needing something on her way back home to get her day started, we have that. You’ve got the business owner who is opening up his shop and needs something to get him motivated well we have something for that, too.”

1905’s signature drink is the southern ground mocha, which Cannon said has become extremely popular with the revision in service hours.

“It is a white chocolate, coffee-based drink that has a caramel drizzle and a whipped cream option,” he said.

The Crimson Cup Company supplies 1905’s coffee. Its new hours of operation are 7:30 a.m. until closing Monday through Friday. Closing times vary depending on the day. Food service hours will remain the same.

O’Henry’s Roasting Company supplies the KDMC coffee shop with a selection of whole bean coffees. Its hours of operation are 6:30 a.m. to 7 p.m. Monday through Friday and 8 a.m. to noon on Saturday. It is closed on Sunday.