“Sip, savor and stay a while” is the motto for the Middle Brook Cafe, a new coffee shop and bakery in Jefferson that opened on May 1.
The owner, Kim Tom, said she always dreamed of pursuing her passion for baking. After two decades in customer service in corporate America, “the stars aligned,” Tom said.
Baking used to be a way for Tom to relax and destress, she said. Like a gardener who likes to dig in the dirt, Tom said, “I want to have my hands in dough.”
The bakery is open Thursday through Monday and offers freshly made bagels, vanilla and blueberry scones and blueberry muffins five days a week. Many hot and cold coffees and teas are featured on the menu, including latte, chai latte, Americano and herbal tea.
“Our coffee is organic and roasted just minutes away at Charlotteville General Store and Coffee Roasters, ensuring every cup is as fresh as it is flavorful,” Tom said.
Charlotteville is about a 10 minute drive from Jefferson.
Weekends are special because the new cafe serves freshly baked sourdough bread and baguettes on Saturdays and Sundays only. Fresh bread making requires Tom to rise at 2 a.m. on weekends, she said.
“We bake with Farmer Ground flour which is organic wheat grown and milled in New York state, bringing care and integrity into every loaf, muffin, and scone,” Tom said.
On Tuesdays and Wednesdays, the cafe is closed.
“Jefferson is a one stop town,” Helen Nershi, 78, a resident of Jefferson said. “I have been reading The Daily Star for years and I thought this bakery should be covered.
“They serve espresso and their chocolate chip cookies are really good. They are vegan cookies,” Nershi said.
“We believe that good food starts with good ingredients,” Tom said. “Everything we serve is rooted in intention. We prioritize high-quality, thoughtfully sourced ingredients, with a strong focus on supporting producers close to home.”
“It is really important to me to support the local community,” she said. “We are a small business and we want to support other small businesses.”
A yogurt parfait is on the menu. “Our yogurt comes from a family-run creamery, Family Farmstead, committed to regenerative farming, low-heat pasteurization, and A2 protein milk,” Tom said.
Chicken salad, egg bites, bacon and sausage are some of the limited savory items on the cafe’s menu. “We buy our chicken and pig (meat) from Horton Hill Farms in Jefferson,” Tom said. “Our breakfast sausage comes from Solinsky’s Stamford Smokehouse.”
High-quality ingredients “that honor both the land and your body” are Tom’s recipe for success, she said.
Tom is self-taught. She draws inspiration from Ina Garten, a New York Times bestselling author, and James Beard Award-winning and Emmy Award-winning host of the television shows “Barefoot Contessa” and “Be My Guest.” Garten is famous for her chicken salad and baguette recipes.
Tom took a three-day professional bread-making course in Vermont at the King Arthur Baking Company.
Tom and her husband, Dan Berke, bought the bakery from the previous long-time owners, who retired. Mill Brook Mill was run by four women. Tom renamed the business Mill Brook Cafe because there are multiple brooks and streams that run through Jefferson. One brook runs through the backyard of their property at 170 Main St., the site of the Middle Brook Cafe.
Tom and her husband closed on the property in October 2025 and invested in extensive renovations until April, making it their own.
They added a coffee bar, a bookcase and oriental rug and cozy tables and chairs to invite customers to make it “your third place. Not home, not work, but somewhere in between. Somewhere you can return to again and again.”
Tom hopes to add outdoor seating in the future. “We love the town,” she said. The couple moved from another town about 30 minutes away. Berke helps out at the cafe as needed.
Before Tom opened on May 1, she kept followers up to date on her Middle Brook Cafe’s Facebook page, which has 4,500 followers.
“We’ve also designed the cafe to be a place you’ll want to linger, a place to settle in with a book on a quiet morning, or to gather with a friend over a latte and something sweet,” she said.