Black Sheep Espresso in Bishop claims new spot

New Main Street location for popular Bishop-based coffee roaster

The new space offers more seating, convenient parking and Main Street access. With room to cook, Black Sheep also provides further food options, like savory homemade soups, salads, breakfast burritos, and sandwiches. Recent soup offerings include Thai chicken noodle, tomato basil, and sausage, sweet potato and kale, which pair with freshly made veggie and grilled cheese sandwiches.

Black Sheep Café also offers delectable pastries from 2 local bakers, with treats like chocolate hazelnut, lemon, or cranberry walnut tarts; pumpkin or banana walnut muffins. “We make all of our stuff in house,” Schultz said. “Anything you buy will have been produced here. We take a lot of pride in doing that.”

Then there’s the coffee. “We work all over the spectrum, from lighter roasts to darker roasts,” said Schultz. “Our aim is to bring out whatever the best quality of that particular bean is, whether there’s a spice note, or some kind of fruit quality. We aim to highlight those characteristics in the coffee, as opposed to having a roasting style where the coffee all tastes a little bit similar.”

Schultz noted the many subtleties of flavor in the beans roasted by Black Sheep, from the higher fruit and acidity content of African beans, to the smoother, bigger flavor of Pacific Island beans, which have what Schultz described as chocolate, earthy tones. “We bring in high quality beans from the farmer’s perspective as well,” he said. “We do a lot of organic, and most of the coffees we buy qualify for Fair Trade, which is definitely a concern of mine.” Three choices of coffee should always be available to patrons of the Espresso Bar & Café, Schultz said; and “we’ll brew it the way it’s supposed to be brewed, and serve it as it’s supposed to be served.”

Black Sheep Café also offers a fantastic selection of fine teas, with options like jasmine oolong, sencha green, and rooibos.

Locals and visitors alike have greeted the new location with enthusiasm, Schultz reported. “Everybody is just really excited to have a bigger local spot where they can hang out,” he said. The Café offers an opportunity for evening entertainment as well, with open mic nights from 6-8:30 p.m. every other Thursday, the most recent having been held on Valentine’s Day.

“We’ve had either poetry or just excellent acoustic guitarists, singer-songwriters, and cover bands,” Schultz said. “I mean there are so many people in this valley who are unbelievable musicians, like Greg Smith, Jason Chinchen, Howie Schwartz, and Milo Cagle and the guys formerly from Tungsten City Band.”

Schultz aims to feature more live music on weekends, particularly once a new outdoor patio is installed at the back of the Café in March.

For now, Black Sheep will be open 6:30 a.m.-5 p.m. Sunday through Wednesday, and from 6:30 a.m.-8 p.m. Thursday through Saturday, offering long-time locals and Eastern Sierra newcomers a place to kick back and relax. Schultz noted that the later hours, in addition to a new beer service, should make Black Sheep an even more enticing location for relaxation. “It shouldn’t be a rowdy bar scene,” he said. “You can come, check your email, have a beer in the evening, have a coffee or tea if you like. Then in the spring we’ll have that outdoor space, too. So we’ll have a nice place to sit in the back. It should be good.”