A sip of a local spot – Bucer’s Coffeehouse and Pub features various aspects of the Moscow community

It’s rare to find a busy coffee shop that feels just like home. 

Yet somehow, Bucer’s Coffeehouse and Pub creates that familiar atmosphere for visitors.

The coffee shop, pub, restaurant, study spot, library and smoke spot opened in 2000. In 2004, Bucer’s owner Pat Greenfield moved to Moscow from Lewiston, where the shop’s current location originated.

Nicole Etchemendy | Argonaut  A group of friends enjoy the Moscow weather and catch up at Bucer’s Coffeehouse and Pub Saturday.

Nicole Etchemendy | Argonaut
A group of friends enjoy the Moscow weather and catch up at Bucer’s Coffeehouse and Pub Saturday.

She said Bucer’s is the only coffeehouse in the region that roasts its own coffee.

“Because we roast our own coffee and we are picky about it, the way that we train is really picky as well,” Greenfield said. “When someone starts working here they have to master all of the other tasks before they ever get near the espresso machine.”

The business even has a specific person who trains baristas to make the best espresso possible in order to uphold the image of the business. Alex Doyle, espresso trainer, worked at Bucer’s for a year before becoming the top barista and took up the responsibility of training new employees.

“Espresso ristretto as a culinary art doesn’t take very long to pick up, but to master it can take a little while,” Doyle said. “We have a particular method and there is not much room for variation on those techniques.”

Bucer’s offers a full menu and almost all of the items are winners of recipe contests that the business puts on, Greenfield said.

“We are somewhat diverse in that we roast our own coffee and we are the only coffeehouse that has their own commercial kitchen,” Greenfield said. “Everything that we serve here we make here.”

The business is also rich with family roots. Greenfield said married couples have met while they worked at Bucer’s. Five kids from the same family have gone through the business and worked there. The current “Roastmaster,” the kitchen manager and a barista are all siblings from the same family.

Mazdak Shadkam, a Washington State University graduate, said he spent almost every evening of his college career at Bucer’s. Even now, he said he visits it two or three times a week.

“I think the good thing about Bucer’s is its variety of people coming here,” Shadkam said. “It covers all the ages and all of the demographics.”

Bucer’s also offers a selection of cigars, which come from a vendor in California. In the back of the building there is an area that used to be a smoke room that has a special ventilation system. After smoke rooms were outlawed in Moscow in 2009, people started sitting out front on the patio to enjoy a cigar or pipe.

Bucer’s also features a variety of books. The books were provided and tended by a local used-book collector, Greenfield said. All of the books are on sale and they are refreshed every week to ensure new material.

“We like the books because of the ambience,” Greenfield said.

Bucer’s also offers live music, which is comprised of students and local musicians. The live music is featured from 8 p.m. to 10 p.m. Thursday through Saturday.

Nicole Etchemendy

can be reached at

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