The Junction Market and Cafe offers a variety of caffeinated creations, using coffee from a former Texas A&M football player’s company.
Located in the Doug Pitcock ‘49 Texas A&M Hotel and Conference Center, The Junction offers both hot and cold beverages, along with food items such as tortilla soup and caesar salad. The cafe uses coffee from Last Shot Xpresso, a company created by former A&M defensive back Floyd Raven after his two seasons in the NFL with the Cincinnati Bengals.
Cafe manager Geoffrey Candia said The Junction can function as a quick grab-and-go spot or a place for people to sit down, relax and eat. Candia said Raven often comes to visit and brings new ideas to the cafe.
“[Raven] is here once or twice a week,” Candia said. “He put all of his energy into his coffee company, and he gets coffee beans from South America.”
The Junction is typically open every day from 6 a.m. to 10 p.m., though Candia said the cafe will sometimes stay open later on game weekends.
Candia said he encourages people to utilize the cafe for group and individual study sessions because he believes it provides a welcoming atmosphere for students. The cafe also plans to offer discounts through the popular food and drink app Hooked.
The Junction is planning a signature coffee contest in which the cafe will take outside suggestions for new drinks. The top three drinks will be voted on by team members, and the highest selling drink will be featured on the cafe menu with the winner’s name.
David Young was part of the opening crew for the hotel and is now the lead bartender at Block T Bar, which works collaboratively with The Junction employees.
Young said he has enjoyed working at the hotel, and the employees are some of the nicest people he has worked with.
“We all work together to ensure a goal for all of us,” Young said. “We work with The Junction to come up with drink ideas.”
Junction barista Jalisa Johnson said she has learned a lot about the art of making coffee since being hired. The employees are always coming up with new drinks and experimenting to create new recipes.
“The Cam Special is good, and a lot of people get the Nutty Professor, which has butterscotch and dark chocolate mocha,” Johnson said. “I just tasted the Monster Mash Frappuccino. They just came up with that one.”
With the hotel located in the heart of campus, Johnson said she’s always encouraging students to visit and try something new.