Dumfries Coffee Shop Serves Up Joe, Treats

By Stephanie Tipple

If you’re in Dumfries and are looking for a great cup of coffee and a treat, then look no further than Emoni’s Dessert Bar & Café. Emoni’s has been open for just three months, in the previous Dumfries Coffee location, but has already been warmly received by various members of the Dumfries community, due to Emoni’s wide variety of offerings and excellent baked treats. The word “emoni” means faith in Swahili, and Emoni’s CEO Cici Matthews has quite a bit of faith in her business and her product.

Matthews, a Los Angeles native, and 17-year Virginia resident has had the opportunity to see the impact and importance of a strong community, and this is something that is being incorporated into her business model.

The dessert bar and café is named after Matthew’s daughter Emoni, a student at Woodbridge Senior High School, and this is appropriate when considering all that Emoni’s aims to do for residents of Dumfries. In addition to offering quality baked goods, the café plans to host several cultural and community events, working with poets and artists from the DC metro area, like poet Phillip Gregory, to get children, teens and adults reinvested in the Dumfries community.

“I believe that you have to put seeds in other people’s dreams and talents, in order to get your own seeds for your dreams,” Matthews said.

Emoni’s also offers coffee and wine pairing educational talks with customers, teaching customers about the impact and reasoning as to why certain coffees and wines pair with different desserts, allowing customers to get the full flavor experience. They also offer free WiFi to all of their customers, which means that you can have your cake and eat it too, when it comes to grabbing a treat and getting some work done.

They offer cakes, cupcakes, cake pops, cookies, brownies, pies, and cheese cakes, and will take special orders within 24 hours. All of these bakery items are made daily and fresh on the premises, and all of the left-over products are donated to local charities and organizations in the community.

And like any good reporter, I took it upon myself to perform the grueling task of sampling various dessert offerings that you’ll find at Emoni’s. The lemon cupcakes were fresh and light, a perfect pick me up when you want dessert, but without the afterward heavy bloated feeling. The Kentucky Derby pie didn’t disappoint, and was crisp and flaky like a pie should be when made just right. But overall, my hands down favorite had to be the German chocolate cake. There was just the right amount of fudge and coconut topping to blend together, and didn’t leave my mouth with an overly sweet or chocolatey taste.