For years, Auburn residents lamented the fact that there was nowhere to get a good cup of coffee in the city. Now in just one short year, there are three coffee shops.

For some, this might be a caffeine overload. But for others, coffee-lovers and local business people alike, the new cafes mean that there's something good brewing in Auburn.

Last August, Espressions Cafe opened in Lattimore Hall to the delight of CCC students in need of a mid-day coffee fix. In November of last year, Yesteryears Coffeehouse and Cafe opened for business on the newly renovated State Street mall. And now there's Witches Brew, a coffee shop and cafe on Genesee Street next to HSBC.

Sandy Craner, director of the Downtown Auburn Business Improvement District, welcomes all the coffee shops into the downtown area. They're all contributing to the long-term growth and revitalization of downtown, Craner said.

Craner and the Auburn BID have been supportive of Witches Brew, which is run by Cayuga resident Nancy Heath. It's the first step in getting businesses into the long-vacant shopfronts of the former Nolan's building, now owned by Joe Catalfano and Jay Kilmer.

“The space is beautiful and it's in a good spot,” Craner said of Witches Brew. “[The Quality Rentals block] is getting all filled up.”

Catalfano and Kilmer have been actively recruiting tenants for that block of Genesee Street, which is somewhat out of the way of the major foot traffic on the street. Slowly, with the addition of Absolute Dance studio and Year of the Dragon tattoo parlor, and obviously the anchor business Quality Rentals, the block is seeing more business.

That's good news for Yesteryears owner Kathy Naumann. She welcomes the addition of another coffee shop because it's yet another reason for people to be downtown.

“I wish they were all on [State Street]. More people gravitate toward an area when there are shops,” Naumann said.

In her fantasy world, State Street would be full of cafes and bistros, in her words a “restaurant row.” The competition wouldn't scare her because of the variety. That's the way Naumann feels about the other two downtown coffee shops.

“We're not all the same thing. We all have little twists,” she said.

Mary Ward, who works at Espressions, also welcomes the new addition, saying that each of the coffee purveyors appeals to a different clientele.

“Each coffee house has its own style. It all depends on what people like,” Ward said.

Both Naumann and Ward report their coffee shops are doing well in their first year of business. Most of their business has been in street traffic, people who pop in for a quick take-out coffee. While each serve a light lunch menu, most of the sales have been in beverages.

Witches Brew will also offer a lunch menu of salads, wraps and panini, or grilled sandwiches. They're also doing breakfast with a full menu of paninis and wraps. Since they just opened on Oct. 13, Heath hasn't yet pinned down exact times of operation and she's still experimenting with offering breakfast.

“We're trying to offer a healthier menu. Everything is made in-house,” Heath said.

Heath agrees with both Naumann and Ward that there's room enough for everyone in Auburn's coffee community. The theme of her cafe is definitely different than the other two and will probably draw its own clientele, in particular of the witch variety.

Heath practices Wicca, a Neopagan religion in which many of the practitioners are witches. Her shop is filled with herbs and homemade lotions and books on witchcraft and wizardry. She has fun with the commercial co-opting of witchcraft and is amused by the misconceptions people have about witches.

“We do believe in a higher power. We don't grab children off the street and boil them in a pot,” Heath said.

While she might get some competition from Wegmans based on her proximity to the grocery store's cafe, Heath is confident her shop fills a niche.

“It's something new for Auburn,” she said. “We just wanted to do something different.”