St. Pete’s Intermezzo Coffee has made the EDGE District its permanent home. Credit: Angelina Bruno

Something's been brewing at Intermezzo Coffee — and it's not coffee. The EDGE District pop-up-turned-permanent-coffee-shop has started serving cocktails at 5 p.m. daily. Owner Jarrett Sabatini, who opened Intermezzo as a temporary pop-up back in September, decided to add a full bar to the space at 1111 Central Ave. last month.

Sabatini credits his bartending knowledge to his time at downtown St. Pete's Locale Market and FarmTable Kitchen as both a bartender and a sommelier, as well as the eight months he spent shaking up craft cocktails at The Mandarin Hide. Rounding out Intermezzo's bar staff is Dalton Bryant, who headed the bar program at 1921 restaurant in Mount Dora, and Brandon Redshaw of FarmTable Kitchen.

Intermezzo owner Jarrett Sabatini. Credit: Angelina Bruno

According to Sabatini, the bar program will be very straightforward and driven by classic cocktails to start. He plans to expand the menu later, creating shrubs, bitters and infusions in-house and adding original creations to the seasonally changing lineup. Coffee cocktails will make their way to the shop within the next year, as will amaro-based drinks.

The owner says he thinks having two focuses — coffee and booze — will leave room for creativity and innovation.

"I know what the goals are — the rest is a playground," Sabatini says. "Now we just experiment and have fun, and play around with different drinks."

As far as menu favorites go, Sabatini loves the Paper Plane, which mixes bourbon, Amaro Nonino, lemon juice and Aperol to make what he calls a "modern classic."

Cocktails cost between $9 to $12, while wine is about $10 a glass. Beer drinkers aren't left out, either, with craft brews available on draft and by the bottle.

The Intermezzo bar operates from 5 to around 10 p.m. Monday through Thursday, and 5 p.m. to midnight (or later) on weekends.