Arlington Gets its Own Serious Coffee Shop — Salter Bros. Focuses on Special Brews

Downtown Arlington’s Urban Union has some new java to tout. And it’s not just another coffee shop. Salter Bros. Coffee Roasters serves only specialty coffee, which is properly roasted and brewed.

Salter Bros. Coffee Roasters just opened at 400 E. Division Street in the big white building close to both Legal Draft Beer Co., where a collaboration coffee beer is on tap, and Sugar Bee Sweets Bakery, where Salter’s coffee is on the menu. Sugar Bee will return the favor by producing “Angel Biscuits” for Salter Bros. ― based upon a family recipe provided by the Salters.

This is the first coffee shop to call Urban Union home.

Salter Bros. will make it official at a grand opening on March 20. The coffeehouse features a full coffee and espresso bar, including trendy nitro cold brew on tap.

John and Cindy Salter are sticklers for carefully sourced, grown and harvested beans. They select only highly graded beans from premium growing regions. Since you don’t have time to worry about what’s in your coffee cup, the Salters take the guess-work out of it.

“You can taste the difference, from crop to cup,” Salter’s website claims. “Each stage of the coffee supply chain is traceable, so you know what you’re getting.”

Roasting specialty blends for local clients has helped to get the Salters name out there. They are already distributing to Texas Live!, River Market at Live! by Loews, Mercury Chophouse and Social House, just to name a few. Now they’ve opened their first brick and mortar. It will serve as the Salter Bros. corporate headquarters, roasting facility, distribution center and now also its cozy tasting room.

The new Arlington Blend is described as bold, smooth and balanced with a crisp acidity, and aromas of brown sugar, black tea and anise. Other single origin roasts feature most of the premium growing regions, including Honduran, Mexican, Peruvian, Tanzanian, Guatemalan, Columbian, Costa Rican and Brazilian.

Arlington’s New Coffee Retreat

Salter Bros.’ Arlington space is a refurbished, mid-century modern building. Tables and counter tops are made with repurposed Italian wood, reclaimed lumber from John Salter’s family homestead in the Piney Woods of East Texas, and planks sourced from the Arlington area. Along with seating near the roasters, you’ll find bar seating at the window, comfy chairs, and what they call the “green room,” where they store “green” unroasted coffee in their original burlap shipping bags.

There will be an assortment of small bites and baked goods to accompany the many beverages, and customers can purchase coffee by the bag and large “traveler” carafes to-go as well as Salter Bros. branded merchandise.

The Salters plan to roll-out informative coffee classes soon, like “cuppings” where attendees will learn about the nuances of coffee and how to appreciate its unique flavor profiles and aromas ― much like a wine tasting, but for coffee. Other classes will focus on brewing methods.

The hours of the new shop are Mondays and Tuesdays from 7 am to noon (they close early these days to roast); Wednesdays through Fridays from 7 am to 6 pm; Saturdays from 8 am to 6 pm; and Sundays from 7 am to 4 pm.

Arlington’s coffee scene is suddenly a lot more interesting.