The Golden Roast Melrose

Golden Roast used to be a shop I loved to frequent. Centrally located, and once staffed by a friendly and professional staff. Recently, though, the management fired several of my favorite baristas with no warning or explanation, and hired on new ones at a lower pay rate. This is a disgusting business practice designed to squeeze as much profit out of their workers as possible, and I will no longer be frequenting their establishment.

Come for the coffee, leave because the wifi doesn't work. Seriously though, this is one of the oldest coffee shops in Knoxville. It is locally owned and serves a variety of coffee roasted at the shop's roastery (off site).

The coffee selections are generally good, not as acidic as the coffee at some of Knoxville's newer "brew" places, but watch out for some of the ... rather oddball flavor choices of their specialty coffees (I'm looking at you, coconut rum infused "Black Mountain" roast, and "Smoky Mountain Blend").

As for parking at the Melrose Ave location, it is limited, but there's often 2-hour meter parking nearby on Lake Avenue. Their second location, opening soon on Sutherland Avenue (in the basement of the old Marble City Methodist Church) has more plentiful parking.

The Melrose shop is a typical campus coffee shop bordering the University of Tennessee campus -- on any given day you can catch conversations about space exploration, international politics, and undergraduate fears of a pending exam. The baristas are friendly, but in the last two years their turn-over rates have been astounding (even for how transient coffee shop work can be). If you plan to get work done at Melrose on a laptop, be warned that their wifi network (despite three new routers in maybe a year or so) is wonky -- your Macbook will be fine, your recent iPhone or iPad will be too, but good luck with an older iPad or a Windows laptop. If your phone can serve as a personal wifi hotspot, bring it with you.

Sincerely -- a guy who has been a regular here since former owner Allan Zeigel and his wife opened the shop in the 1990s.

I greatly appreciate the Golden Roast as a UT grad student. Good coffee and food and atmosphere. The staff are friendly and welcoming and very good baristas. I enjoy many of their coffee roasts and the baristas have always welcomed questions about their roasts and have been able to answer all I've posed to them.

As a UT student I loved to visit this place all the time. Hearing recent news of the manager firing great baristas, hiring new ones for lower pay, and just the manager being intolerable, I not be going to Golden Roast as frequent. I hate to support businesses that aren’t looking for the best of their employees. Until I hear more news, I will not be visiting here.

Their coffee is wonderful! One of the baristas, John has a way of exciting your taste buds by exploring new flavors, but all the baristas do their best to make a drink that is perfect for you.
Their only down side is sluggish WiFi.

Such a cute place, and the best white chocolate mocha ♡♡

Great coffee, great prices. Nice place to study. Fast WiFi. Couches and outlets.

I've been addicted to coffee ever since I was a little tyke. Until I came here, though, my drug of choice had always been acquired via the almighty Starbucks. That all changed after my first sip of a latte at the Golden Roast. Ever since, I have perused Knoxville's selection of local coffee shops to see what this new tier of espresso beverages offered me, and it is my conclusion that the Golden Roast is simply a cut above the rest. The decor creates a perfect, low-key atmosphere, complemented by the baristas' relaxed, but friendly, personalities. And perhaps my favorite quality of this place is its consistency, recalling as I write many good and just as many horrible experiences at Starbucks. Of the ten or so times I've visited the Golden Roast, only once have I visited on a "bad" day, and even that latte was one of the best I've had in Tennessee. If you're looking to graduate from the dreaded coffee chain, the Golden Roast is a great place to start.

Just got to say it. Average for sure. If you enjoy actually coffee and premium roasted single origin. You will be let down. Espresso was super below par, and made Keurig sound good.

Cute shop! I had no idea this was so close to UT campus--truly a hidden gem of an alternative coffee shop. I tried the Big Orange Mocha iced and it was so delicious and flavorful! Staff was very friendly and knowledgeable about their products.