Feature article
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Java J’s serves up taste of ‘sweet life’
By Fred Sauceman
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I just assumed that Ken Spurlock was heading back to feed an office crew or maybe a carful of ice cream-starved Vacation Bible School students with his pound and a half of gelato from Java J’s in Abingdon.
I was wrong. Ken never made it to the car. Never intended to in the first place. Once owner Julie Marion had packed a peach-colored, rectangular Styrofoam box from Italy with as much gelato as it would hold, Ken paid and made it no further than the front porch of Java J’s, where he consumed all the contents of the container.
In Abingdon for a training session on crisis intervention, Ken, a Big Stone Gap resident, made a beeline during a break for the region’s gelato treasure trove, where he introduced colleague Jennifer Horne, of Rye Cove, to several of the 18 flavors on display.
“It’s fluffy and light, and I would even say lively,” says Ken, whose devotion to a carton of Breyer’s hasn’t slacked despite his newfound devotion to Italian-style ice cream.
“I was here five months ago, gave it a try, and then boom,” he recalls. Ken’s favorite gelato flavor is strawberries and cream, made with pureed fresh berries.
Along with husband John, Julie home-schooled three daughters, Jordana, Jaclyn, and Jill. (Their names clue you in about the appellation of the business.) Now she’s turned her attention to educating the public about the wonders of gelato.
In 1997, on a family trip to Williamsburg, Virginia, she was first attracted to the texture and flavors of the product, leading her to enroll in “gelato school” in Winston-Salem, North Carolina. The school consisted of two full days of intensive training. Two of Julie’s classmates had flown in from Costa Rica, seeking to expand their flavored ice business.
Last summer, Julie traveled to Tuscany, to sample, firsthand, authentic Italian gelato. She estimates she tasted about four pounds of it and “took pictures of people eating gelato everywhere I went.”
Gelato is lower in fat than most traditional American-style ice creams. At Java J’s, the butterfat content is around four percent. Less air is incorporated into gelato, with a beater that looks like a jackhammer, and gelato keeps at a warmer temperature than ice cream, lessening the cold shock to the tongue.
Gelato cooks at 180 degrees, with whole milk as its base. The product tastes richer than the fat content would lead you to expect.
Julie’s gelato machine, made by the Aromi di Italia company, was assembled in Italy, and many of her ingredients, like cinnamon paste, come from there.
“Gelato is a romance food,” says Julie. “It appeals to the senses. It’s beautiful to look at, hits the mouth pleasantly, and the flavor is intense.”
Julie is teaching her sister-in-law, Kathy Parsell, how to make gelato, and store manager Rob Case, a theatre graduate from Freed-Hardeman University, makes it as well, improvising with flavors like tiramisu, pistachio, and crème caramel. At the request of a customer late one night, he even debuted a gelato milkshake.
“Gelato is so simple to make, and you can get really creative,” Rob says. Java J’s flavor inventory is now around 40.
Making gelato only takes about 20 minutes. It’s prepared twice weekly at Java J’s, year-round. Flavors run the gamut from tried-and-true ice cream tastes like chocolate and vanilla, to green mint, blueberry, banana, and coffee.
There are plenty of small white tasting spoons on hand. “If customers look in the direction of the case, we always ask if we can give them a sample,” says Julie.
There are three Java J’s locations: the Virginia side of State Street in Bristol, a drive-through on Volunteer Parkway in Bristol, Tennessee, and the Abingdon store. Gelato is made and served in Abingdon, and a limited offering is available at the Volunteer Parkway Java J’s. Java J’s in Abingdon is located in Stone Mill Village. Going north on Interstate 81, take exit 14. Turn right, then turn left at the first light, into the shopping center. Java J’s is around back.
Visit Java J’s for “Il sapore della dolce vita,” a taste of the sweet life.
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Food writer Fred Sauceman, author of the book “The Place Setting: Timeless Tastes of the Mountain South — from Bright Hope to Frog Level,” is senior writer and executive assistant to the president for public affairs at East Tennessee State University. E-mail him at sauceman@etsu.edu.
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