A Third Place Coffee & Books: Medina’s Coffee and Community

Written by Emma Coykendall
Photos by Lauren Steed

I am a lover of a good cup of coffee. Over time I have come to be able to taste the difference between a dark and light roast, and the Colombian and Guatemalan blends. So I’m not quite a coffee snob, but close. Throughout the years I’ve made friends with baristas and I’ve watched them work. They brew the shot, pouring the hot, steaming milk into the cup. It's like watching an artist at work. Their steady hands flood the coffee with latte art like an artist's brush strokes on a canvas. 

Similar to art, coffee has a way of bringing people together. Some of the best discussions I’ve had, happened over coffee. A friend tells me she is getting married and my sister tells me she was accepted into her dream school. Coffee shops have a way of bringing together a community by giving people a place to gather. 

This was Tisha Ewing’s goal when she opened A Third Place Coffee & Books in late August of 2024 in downtown Medina, Tenn. She combined her appreciation for books and local artists with her love of the good that a coffee shop does for a community and turned it into her own work of art.

The day I visit, the main street is empty of pedestrians and only a few cars are parked, but they’re all in front of Ewing’s shop. The windows of A Third Place Coffee & Books are lit up as I hustle in out of the drizzle. I’m met with the warm smells of freshly brewed shots of espresso and the sounds of chatter.

“I’ll try the Golden Dragon, please.” I say. The specialty drink I order is the equivalent of a caramel latte but with their own special recipe. The young man who takes my order explains to me the process as he fills the cup. I listen while I absorb my surroundings. The bar is a recycled bowling alley countertop, thrifted like most of the store, creating a symphony of colors and pieces of local history. A Third Place is where people from Medina and surrounding towns come to congregate.

This is Ewing’s mission. She has seen the positive effect that community has through her background in education and theater and she wants to give that gift to her hometown.

“I absolutely love theater, performing arts,” Ewing said. “But I just have gotten to a point in my life where I wanted to do something on my own and I love building community. That's something that theater does…it brings people together. So I just have this love of having a space that's safe for everybody, that's welcoming.”

The arts are very important to Ewing, and because bringing people together is the commonality between coffee and the arts, she combined the two. In one corner of the shop, a woman is settled at her desk, selling books from the shelves that line the back wall. Across from her are tables, filled with handmade bracelets, mugs and other trinkets that customers are sorting through. I am seated on a bench, thrifted from a local antique store. Behind me hang six beautiful paintings from a local artist. Ewing is selling them out of her shop.

“From the very beginning, I wanted to provide a space for local artists to do things,” Ewing said.

She tells me about how, once a month, local artists will line the street in front of her shop and folks will stroll up and down, perusing the art. The shop owner loved the idea and wanted to play a part in fostering those kinds of relationships.

“It was important to me to showcase Medina artists first,” Ewing said. “Then I definitely will do more. But Medina doesn't really have a space yet.”

Ewing wanted to be that space and through months of hard work, planning and stress, she opened the perfect spot for local people to gather. One of the marks of a small town is the community, but to have that, the town needs a central hub where people can congregate and conference about their lives. A Third Space opens the door for this in Medina and meets a need both externally and internally.

As I chat with Ewing, I watch her employees as they work. All range in age from about seventeen to their early twenties. They interact while they work, talking about their lives and the homework they have waiting for them when their shift ends. The young man who took my order is laughing with a customer while he steams some milk. I meet him later on and learn his name is Grady Allen.

“He's 17 years old, if you can believe,” Ewing tells me. “He's the old man of the group for sure, but he's probably the youngest. But he's great…so when he said he would come over here and work with me, I was like, okay, we can do this.”

I admire the trust Ewing has in her employees, whom she also calls her kids. She’s quick to point out that they’re all very mature adults, but she still loves them like her own. She tells me about the stickers they have drawn up for Allen when he runs for president in 2044. I promise him my vote and based on the way he handles A Third Place, I really think he could run the country.

Ewing has worked from the inside, out. Her love for the community in Medina is reflected by her employees through the consideration she shows them. In turn, her employees show that same consideration to the guests who walk through the doors.

“It’s like a second home,” Allen, Ewing’s first hire, said. 

He tells me about when he first came to work for A Third Place Coffee & Books and how Ewing and his other co-workers have become some of his good friends. Coffee wasn’t something he’d ever been interested in before but it's grown on him. 

I’m impressed by the latte he handed me. I sip on it as Ewing and I talk. The strong aroma carries through the shop and it smells heavenly. I want to try a few more items on the menu but will have to come back another day. Their Dr. Pepper latte makes me curious and I know I need to try the other ‘dragon’ drinks as well.

A Third Place Coffee & Books is a cozy place. A group of postgrads from Union University sit on a cluster of velvet couches, arranged almost in a 70’s conversation pit style. A mother and daughter read in the corner and two girls browse the art on the wall behind me. More customers hustle in out of the rain. A Third Place is filling up for the day and Ewing is glad.

“It’s just a place to build community,” Ewing said. “And the coffee is the way to get people in here.”