Recent seasons of Build-Outs start on a robust note. Let’s keep the good atmosphere going by visiting Daysol Coffee Laboratory in Birmingham, Alabama, a city that has played a huge role in our Build-Outs series over the past few years. This up-to-date flagship roastery and retail store is a sight to behold, with an impressive scale and sense of mission. Let’s find out more.
For those who don’t know, can you tell us about your company?
DAYSOL Coffee Lab is a Birmingham-based coffee roaster that opened our up-to-date flagship roastery and retail store in Birmingham city center in January 2026. Roaster and owner Bert Davis started his coffee career in Denver, Colorado as an independent roaster, and in 2019 he moved to Birmingham and founded Daysol. We also have a smaller retail store in Hoover, AL, just 15 minutes south of Birmingham.
Can you tell us something about the up-to-date space?
Our up-to-date space has been home to several local Birmingham breweries over the past 15-20 years, including Cahaba Brewing, Ghost Train Brewing and Uproot Brewing. The total space is 8,000 square feet and includes our roastery and retail store. It is an open concept space where customers can get a closer look at the roasting process. We wanted to stay true to the feel of the brewery, so we kept the rustic warehouse aesthetic while adding our own style and branding. We have three vast roll-up garage doors that provide open space as well as plenty of outdoor seating and an outdoor stage. In just the few months we have been open, we have hosted a bluegrass band, a DJ, a singer-songwriter night, and a jazz trio. We are also open to events and have already hosted several successful events. The atmosphere is American and many people love how chilly this place is.
What is your approach to coffee?
I started roasting coffee in Denver, so roasting is my true passion. I believe that having a solid background in coffee roasting is really the foundation of what we do. We have several blends that we rely heavily on and focus on direct relationships with the farms, resulting in blends that complement the characteristics of each origin. We also often have unique single-origin coffees that we review depending on what we like and what we want to showcase. When it comes to drinks, we really enjoy creativity and operate our entire team to develop recipes.
Any machines, coffees, special equipment in the queue?
We operate a overdue model La Marzocco classic line three, three to Mahlkön grinders, A FETKO drip coffee machine, six-head kegerator for icy brew and kombucha. Our smoking room is Diedrich IR12. We try the roast on Ikawa Pro. We have two Linea Minis that we operate to test the kitchen and coffee cart at events.
How does your design incorporate sustainability?
One of the things we strongly focus on at Daysol is working with what we have. Our location is in the city, where we grow as many herbs and ingredients as possible for our homemade syrups, and we even have our own hives where honey is obtained. For our garden, composting is very vital, so we compost as much as we can from our store for our own garden, as well as the gardens of our employees and customers.
We also worked on developing our own chai recipe, and operate the byproducts of this process to create the base for our golden milk latte (a turmeric and ginger-based drink). We focus on sustainability, focusing on minimizing waste and creating up-to-date, useful ways to operate things that might otherwise be thrown away.
What is your expected target opening date/month?
We opened on January 17, 2026
Do you work with any craftsmen, architects and/or makers you would like to mention?
Honestly, we did 90% of the work ourselves when building out our space. Being a brewery already, we were able to operate most of what was already here. Aesthetics are what truly make a space unique. We turned one of our rooms into an art gallery. I created the syrup and tested the kitchen in the corner nook where the pizza was made. Matthew Davis (our graphic and artistic designer) led the project to create a beloved brewery space that would feel the same but look like Daysol, not just the same as always. Then the workers and I grabbed our paintbrushes and got to work. It was nice to have customers and employees and owners of previous breweries over and comment on how nice it looked. Same but different, that’s exactly what we wanted!
Thank you!
Thank you for remembering us! You really have to see this place to truly appreciate it! !
