Located inside the Village Plaza in Baton Rouge, the Rêve Coffee Lab had its grand opening on the morning of Monday, Jan. 18.
However, the Reve is no ordinary coffee shop. As the name implies, the Rêve Coffee Lab takes on a scientific perspective on the art of brewing.
Instead of using your typical coffee shop equipment, the Rêve baristas mix drinks with calculated precision through the use of glass beakers.

Eric Schoonmaker, barista manager, explained the meaning behind the name.
“You can kind-of play around with different variables to get different notes out of the coffee,” he said. “And so, that’s how I would say it’s like science.”
Additionally, this particular location is the only one out of five Rêve Labs to have alcohol as an item on the menu.
Schoonmaker says that serving alcohol “seems like it hits to both the morning crowd and the evening crowd, and this spot is just perfect for that.”
Alcohol can be mixed into coffee beverages to make drinks like the Nola, Irish–Bailey’s liqueur with a shot of espresso.
The story behind the inspiration of the Rêve is just as unique as its scientific concept. Founder Nathanael Johnson recalled what inspired him to create Rêve.
“I remember drinking coffee with my dad when I was 11 years old,” he said. “I always tried to mimic what my dad was doing, so I think that’s one of the things that started it and made me fall in love with coffee.”
Johnson hopes to share this experience with his customers through the unique atmosphere that the Rêve provides.
“Rêve is French for the word dream,” Johnson said. “This has always been a dream of ours to open a roasting facility and to have cafes, that way we can showcase what we do and what we are about. The experience is something unique that they might not be able to experience anywhere else.”
Johnson plans to open up more roasting facilities outside of Louisiana within the next five years.
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