CALEDONIA, MI — A Caledonia café is hoping to become Michigan’s first coffee shop and brewery this year with the addition of a craft beer brewing system.

The Essential Bean at 8980 N. Rogers Court in Caledonia will rebrand itself as EB Coffee & Pub this fall after an expansion project that owner Justin Nichols hopes will extend the reach of the 14-year-old coffeehouse into the local community and diversify the business amid increasing competition.

Nichols, who bought the Essential Bean in 2010, said he's been thinking since opening the store that he wanted to do a "marriage between coffee and craft beer.”

“I want it to be an efficient business. I’d love it to be a place someone stops at in the morning and on the way home for a pint after work.”

Nichols, 33, recently hired homebrewer and 23-year-old Aquinas Collage graduate Drew Koszulinski to oversee the beer production. The business is having a 3-barrel system installed late this summer and is aiming to open the pub side in late fall.

Nichols is pursuing a manufacturers license for the new microbrewery operation, which will focus on small batch brewing. The tap system is planned to pour four mainstay beers and four rotating specialty experimental beers, such as those brewed with wild Brettanomyces yeast or aged in bourbon barrels.

EB Coffee & Pub is planning to work with area homebrewers to take in submitted recipes that may be chosen for production on a guest brewer basis.

Although craft breweries have exploded across the state in recent years — Michigan is fifth in the nation for number of total breweries — Nichols believes his project will mark the first coffeehouse brewery in the state. The closest business model to his plan in Michigan may be Brew, a coffeehouse bar in downtown Traverse City.

“We’re experimenting with the idea that you can sit next to a guy having a great cup of coffee, who you can have a conversation with while drinking a nice bourbon barrel-aged stout,” said Koszulinski.

The expansion project will include some renovations to customer areas, an extension of the counter and the addition of pub-style seating. It may also involve some adjustments to the food menu, which features soups, salads and a new Panini press.

Nichols said he’s hoping the brewery side can augment the Essential Bean's presence in Caledonia and help it compete with other chain coffee shops that have located nearby. A Biggby franchise location opened close by this year, and Nichols said his shop, which doesn’t have a drive-through, also competes with nearby McDonald’s and a Starbucks in the local D&W grocery store.

“With all those forces pushing against me, we really can’t compete on that level of just pushing coffee out a window,” he said. The brewery addition should also make for more balanced morning and evening sales.

He’s planning to extend the shop hours to about midnight, but “I still want to keep that cafe type atmosphere rather than have a bar with loud music and TVs.”

EB Coffee & Pub would be the only brewery in the immediate area. A few miles north on Broadmoor Avenue SE is the Jaden James Brewery at Cascade Winery, and south of Caledonia is the Walldorff Brewpub in Hastings and the Middle Villa Inn in Middleville.

“Every time I turn around, everyone knows someone whose husband or brother is a homebrewer interested in making craft beer,” he said. “I think Caledonia is going to be very receptive.”

For more information, visit EB Coffee & Pub on Facebook.

Email Garret Ellison or follow him on Twitter.