Leura maths teacher Josh Watts has traded in life in the classroom to serve up sourdough and Croque Monsieur.
Mr Watts, 40, with wife Jess, 30, took over Leura's Gasoline Cafe this week and have rebranded it Sparrows Cafe.
"Because we are up with the sparrows," he said. "The cafe opens at 6am for the train commuters."
The pair had been looking for a cafe for several years after spending much of their lives in hospitality. They met in 2013 while he was a regular customer at Leura Garage and she was working the front of house.
The father of four worked as a teacher for more than a decade, most recently at Blue Mountains Grammar School teaching maths and science. He was nervous about giving up his full-time career in August.
"I was excited and shit scared in equal measure," he said of taking ownership of the cafe. "It's definitely a leap of faith.
"I enjoyed teaching and I really enjoy this too. I like cooking and chatting to people," he said.
The cafe is on Railway Parade next to Leura Garage and does breakfast and lunch seven days a week.
The menu includes amusing offerings from Mr Watts' travels around the world, with 'Hungover in Hanoi' - pate, eggs, Vietnamese salad and crusty roll - a reminder of the night on the turps he spent with his brother seven years ago.
"I came back from Vietnam and everything suddenly had to have mint, coriander, chilli and fish sauce. I just cook the stuff I like."
On their second day the couple gave out 150 coffees raising more than $300 for Connect Family Services (which helps with early intervention for children with autism) through customers' gold coin donations.
Mr Watts said their builder Matt Long managed to defy the odds and fit the cafe out in a week, his sister-in-law managed the interiors. The cafe has a loyalty card for locals and stocks Little Marionette coffee.
Mrs Watts said it was "a joint dream of ours".
"We're very much a family run business. Archie (4) comes in to water all the plants."