Onyx Tonics Moves to Pine Street in Burlington After a Decade

Downtown Burlington’s coffee scene is shifting just two blocks down the street as Onyx Tonics prepares to close its decade-long run at 126 College Street and reopen at 77 Pine Street, Seven Days reported.

A Shorter Move for a Fresh Start

Jason Gonzalez, 42, has spent ten years establishing Onyx Tonics as a fixture of downtown Burlington. Now, the two-time United Kingdom coffee-tasting champion is packing up to move the shop less than two blocks away. Wednesday, October 28, marks the final day of operation at the College Street location. Gonzalez aims to reopen in the new space the week of November 9.

The incoming storefront at 77 Pine Street carries its own local history. It operated as an outpost of Kestrel Coffee Roasters from March 2022 until mid-April of this year. Drawn to the building’s tall ceilings and large windows, Gonzalez secured a venue slightly smaller than his current footprint. That smaller square footage is intentional. It allows the team to step back from an expanded menu and refocus entirely on coffee.

“We’re a good coffee shop but a bad café,” he joked.

The downsized operation means pastries and secondary food offerings will take a back seat while the staff zeroes in on single-origin roasts and precise brewing.

Local Roasters and Electric Brewing

Onyx Tonics relies on a rotating roster of single-origin beans sourced from independent Vermont roasters. The lineup features Abracadabra Coffee in Woodstock, Brio Coffeeworks in Burlington, Duchess Coffee in Brattleboro, and little seed coffee roasters in Middlebury.

Alongside those regional partnerships, Gonzalez recently introduced his own line of branded beans available by the bag at the shop. These offerings lean toward rarer harvests, including the orange bourbon variety of Granja Paraíso 92 from Colombia, which Gonzalez described as floral, aromatic, and sweet.

Environmental choices guide the production side of the new bean line. Onyx beans are roasted at Carrier Roasting’s Waterbury facility using an electric roaster, a method Gonzalez noted offers clear environmental advantages over traditional gas-powered equipment.