Baine’s Books and Coffee: Steaming Cups in a Small Town
Wedged between two buildings in downtown Scottsville is a small café called Baine’s. You will find it if you weave down Route 20 into the middle of Scottsville, the town of the Batteau Festival. This quaint café is filled with books, coffee, tea, and happy chatter.
It holds a warm joyful atmosphere with books wrapping the ivory and red walls, and sprinkled throughout the café are harry potter paraphernalia. A picture of the Fat Lady from Harry Potter sits right among the guitars and books about history. In years past, they have even made butterbeer for Harry Potter lovers during October.
It is a small café with only five real tables scattered within. But for such a small place, it has its own wooden entrance ramp for wheelchairs and easy access. And after you walk in, a back room has armchairs, a fake fire, and a chessboard for more leisure and comfort.
You can stroll in almost any time throughout the week. They are open 8 a.m. to 4 p.m. Monday through Friday, and on Saturday and Sunday they are open 9 a.m. to 4 p.m. instead. Like many shops, they have had to adapt to COVID-19. They request that everyone wear masks except while eating and drinking. All their employees also wear masks as they work to ensure everyone’s safety.
Baine’s is mainly a place to get drinks, sandwiches, and sweets. But they serve a variety of things. Their hot drinks include coffee, chai, hot chocolate, apple cider, and an assortment of espressos and other things. Their cold drinks include most the things just mentioned but cold, as well as smoothies and Italian sodas. All their coffee is from the local Lexington Coffee roasters West of both Scottsville and Charlottesville. For food they have grilled lunch sandwiches served daily from 10:30 a.m. to 1:30 p.m. along with quiche and scones served all day until they run out.
As you sip at your beverage under the warm lights, you can peruse both new and used books for sale and for looking at. They have local art and authors displayed for sale throughout. It is always fascinating to see what is new. They love to support local artists and local business even while being a local business themselves. Every now and then they even play live music in the evening, but that has slowed because of COVID.
To evaluate Baine’s for being a small rural café, it is good, not over the top but a consistent and solid café in flavor. They have very good pecan sticky buns that puff with warm steam. Their scones, on the other hand, are a little too dry and dense. But its atmosphere and joyful spirit is very good. People sit with books clutched in their hands as paintings happily watch them.
Although tons of shops and businesses have come and gone in Scottsville, Baine’s has stayed. It is a staple where people come to meet up and feel comfortable and connected. The staff are always friendly and cheery people. And it always feels comfy and fae-like, like little cafés should. It is a relaxed place to go to seek free internet or a good drink, to warm or cool yourself down, for wherever your path leads.
