Parisi Artisan Café

We were first attracted to Parisi Café because of its location inside of one of Kansas City’s most unique landmarks, Union Station. Union Station is home to some of my favorite childhood memories and a capstone of Kansas City architecture and history. Parisi’s unique café offers a great cup of coffee and a fresh lunch or breakfast for anyone visiting the station or passing through downtown.

Parisi also caught our attention because of their position as one of the leading Kansas City companies for local coffee roasting. They have been drum roasting their own blends in their Downtown Kansas City plant since 2005. Parisi has been successful in staying far away from the automation of mass coffee production. They treat coffee roasting as an art and this value comes through in every cup.

The Union Station café is fairly new, added to Union Station in early spring of 2011 but they have already become a top destination for coffee lovers all over the city. They stay true to their blends by always brewing them, “by the cup” which means their beans are never sent through an automatic brewer. When you visit the café, you will receive your coffee through French press or pour-over, which preserves the freshness and taste of every cup. We think that is pretty cool.

Blake, Bethany and I also shared cookies from their pastry selection. Parisi buys their cookies and pastries from local bakeries but they are baked fresh in the café. We didn’t try their lunch items but their sandwiches looked fresh, healthy and reasonably priced.

The staff was friendly and it didn’t take long to get them talking about their passion for what they do. We were also impressed to learn that the Parisi staff hand mixes their own syrups in the café.

Looking around the café, the packaging on some of their Coffee blends caught my attention. They feature local favorites like The Kansas City Symphony and Kansas City Ballet on their bags. Their intention is to help spread awareness for the Kansas City art community and establish their own brand as part of it. All in all, Parisi offers an extremely local and quality experience and is a must for anyone exploring Kansas City .