Kahwa Coffee Roasters plans to open a new location at 400 45th Avenue South, a stone’s throw away from the Lewis Boulevard bridge to Coquina Key. It will be the company’s seventh coffee shop in St. Petersburg and eighth in Pinellas County.

The 1,750 square foot building sits at the southwest corner of 45th Avenue South and 4th Street South and has ample parking and area for outdoor seating. It was most recently home to Coquina Key Food & Beverage, a community convenience store.

You can expect to find all of your Kahwa favorites including hot and iced coffees, lattes, fizz drinks, teas, and tasty eats.

Kahwa’s southern expansion comes at an auspicious moment as the city’s Development Review Commission recently approved a proposal for a mixed-use development at the former Coquina Key Plaza, a 14.5-acre property at 4350 6th Street South. 

St. Petersburg, FL-based real estate company Stoneweg acquired the site for $8.9 million in March 2022, and its plan for the property calls for a mixed-use development featuring four separate buildings containing a total of 465 apartments and 20,817 square feet of retail space.

As for Kahwa, its new café will be located across the street from Coquina Key Plaza and should benefit from traffic in the newly revitalized area.  

Founded in 2006 by the husband-and-wife team of Raphael and Sarah Perrier, Kahwa Coffee is a homegrown success story and has become one of St. Pete’s most iconic local brands. It’s been associated with pro baseball stars Evan Longoria and the now-retired David Ortiz, as well as supermodel Kathy Ireland, in addition to being the official coffee of St. Pete’s Tampa Bay Rowdies soccer club.

Kahwa has also partnered with German automaker Mercedes-Benz, and its coffee is available for sale at Publix grocery stores throughout Florida.

It has expanded its physical footprint beyond St. Pete and Pinellas County with five cafes in Tampa, including one at Tampa International Airport, as well as one each in Bradenton, Osprey, and Sarasota. 

In addition to opening near Coquina Key, Kahwa is also opening the city’s first drive-thru shipping container café on 4th Street.

In September 2022, Kahwa took another big step in its evolution with the launch of a franchising system.

“We are planning on focusing on Florida to start with for the first year and then we will expand our territories after that,” Raphael Perrier says in a statement. “We want to ensure our franchisees are successful as we grow and feel this is the best way to do that. 

An opening date for Kahwa Coffee’s new location near Coquina Key has not been announced.