When Barbara Russell and Amelie Bilodeau opened Voluto Coffee on Penn Avenue on the western edge of Garfield about five months ago, they knew they were taking a risk.

Even in a strong economy, opening a small business never guarantees success. When they signed their lease last August, the economy was already starting to show signs of unraveling. But the cafe has been a risk worth taking. "I don't want to be in my 50s and 60s and have regrets," Bilodeau said. "We'll never have regrets."

In Italian, "voluto" means "wished for," and the cafe is undoubtably the culmination of the women's hopes and dreams. Voluto also means "deliberate" or "intended" and the cafe is also the result of careful research, work and planning. Step inside and you'll find a space full of light and air and color and, of course, the very best coffee they know how to make.

"There are mornings when I walk in here and I can't believe this is my place," said Bilodeau, who loves the modern, minimalist design that Evolve Environment architects created. Walls of windows bring in natural light, even on cloudy days, and the high ceiling looks even higher with the pipes exposed. The colors, a mix of cool blues and greens with vibrant orange accents, add warmth and personality.

Bilodeau and Russell are determined to keep the focus on the coffee. The Voluto menu may seem almost painfully bare to a customer used to the variety offered at Starbucks or Crazy Mocha. This isn't coffee "your way"; this is coffee Voluto's way. They offer a short list of classic espresso-based drinks, loose leaf teas and press-pot coffee. During the summer there are iced teas and cold-brewed iced coffee, and they're experimenting with a coffee frappe. Syrups are limited to hazelnut, vanilla, gingerbread and caramel. The food menu includes a small assortment of sweet and savory baked goods, mostly prepared by the SweetHouse Bake Shop in Mars, then baked each morning at Voluto.

The beans are from 49th Parallel, an artisanal roaster in Vancouver, British Columbia. They chose 49th Parallel primarily because of the quality of the beans in the cup but were also excited to bring a new company to the area. The quality of the espresso is consistently impressive -- the Epic espresso blend from 49th Parallel is well balanced, with lovely high notes and a sweet, almost syrupy finish.

Each morning the opening staff must work with the espresso, a blend of Brazilian, El Salvadorian and Ethiopian beans, adjusting the dose and the machine until they're consistently pulling good shots. Sometimes they get it in one, sometimes they have to go through a lot of coffee.

"Espresso can be very temperamental," Bilodeau said. Adjustments must be made depending on the relative age of the espresso, the weather and even the temperature in the store.

The women hope to serve as advocates for high-quality coffee and to help customers discover the rich world of specialty coffee in the same way that they did, by both tasting great coffee and learning more about coffee's origins. "I never realized how hard it was for the farmers," Russell said. "That makes you really appreciate it."

Bilodeau, originally from Montreal, and Russell, from Miami, moved to Pittsburgh in 2000 to be closer to Bilodeau's family. It was only in Pittsburgh that they started to really enjoy coffee. About seven years ago they started dreaming about opening a cafe, but it wasn't until 21/2 years ago that they got serious.

"We started doing all the research. We went to Seattle and Vancouver and started going to independent shops in Pittsburgh," Bilodeau said. She read up on coffee on Web forums such as CoffeeGeek. And, of course, they started looking for the perfect location.

"We looked for a location for about eight months .... We looked on the South Side, in Shadyside, in Lawrenceville," recalled Bilodeau. The first time they looked at the Garfield space they weren't sure.

"Penn Avenue is really diverse, and we like that," said Bilodeau, who hopes to benefit from the new Children's Hospital down the street in Lawrenceville. They also immediately loved the shape of the space. But the lack of foot traffic, no completion date for the Glass Lofts and the stretches of abandoned commercial space nearby made them nervous. But the strengths of the location eventually won them over.

While they had little experience working in other people's cafes, both women have a background in the hospitality industry -- Bilodeau worked as a server for seven years, Russell for nine years. So, they're used to standing for long periods and dealing with all kinds of customers. And they've already learned the most important lesson: "You can't please everyone," they said.

And while some customers might wish for more food or free refills or three flavors of sweet, blended drinks, few could hold the coffee to higher standards than the owners themselves do.

"There are so many aspects of brewing coffee that you can just mess up," Bilodeau said, explaining how they set up their Synesso espresso maker in the basement of their house in Carnegie before the cafe opened to practice pulling shots and steaming milk.

And their devotion to the coffee is as much about satisfying their customers as it is about living up to the coffee's potential.

"Someone might come in who's in a bad mood, but if they come and you're nice to them and they like the coffee, they leave in a good mood and that makes you feel good," Russell said. "I never thought I would enjoy working as much as I do."