Friendly service: Behind the ice cream freezer, owner Linda Hogan.
There’s no road construction — and thus no flaggers or delays — between North Albany and Adair Village. This is one good reason, though not the biggest, for making a quick run to the Sweet Taste Bakery & Coffee House in Adair..
The little coffee shop with both indoor and outdoor seating was one of my favorite stops when it was called Jamocha Joe’s a couple of years ago. Then it closed. New owners, Don and Linda Hogan, reopened and renamed it a few months ago.
This summer we’ve been taking the 10-minute drive to Adair as often as we think of it, unencumbered by the road projects that slow down the commute into Albany. Other than to admire the fields and the open countryside, why drive over there? Well, the cinnamon rolls are one reason. The ice cream is another. The friendly service is the third.
And fourth, the place is rarely busy. That’s a potential concern because I’d like it to stay open. In a hamlet like Adair Village, with few residents, running a business like that must be a special challenge, even more so in the summer when Santiam Christian schools are closed. Hence this undisguised bit of commercial advocacy — from a customer who likes the place and does not want it to close.
After I dropped off a load of tree-trimming waste at Coffin Butte the other day, I detoured to the coffee shop for a strawberry ice cream cone and sat under the trees outside in the afternoon breeze. Sweet taste indeed! (hh)
There’s a drive-up window and seating inside and out.
Linda Hogan is my niece, and she is a sweet little lady and great cook as well as a baker! I think she is as busy as she wants to be!