FOOD & DRINK FEATURE
HOLD THE CREAM The reclamation of Black coffee in Charlotte BY JASIATIC ANDERSON
Coffee was born in and is indigenous only to Africa. In fact, it is named for its region of origin, Kaffa, a province in southwest Ethiopia. The region, now a part of Oromia, is where the sacred plant Coffee Arabica, which we are most familiar with today, is rooted. This means the Oromia people who discovered coffee were harvesting, “washing,” roasting, brewing and creating ceremonies for almost 1,000 years before the rest of the world became aware of the bean’s existence. An almost $500-billion industry, coffee could be considered our last socially acceptable drug. And despite having come from Black people, that same population is underrepresented in today’s U.S. coffee industry, which is expected to bring in more than $80 billion this year with no expectation of a stoppage in growth. So what does representation in Charlotte look like? There are a handful of Black-owned coffee shops that are keeping Charlotteans caffeinated.
came up with the flavor on a whim, and it has stuck from there. Evoke Coffee is located inside CLT Hub, a spot on West Morehead Street that is becoming exactly what the name suggests. Right now, Keenan’s coffee setup is across from the bar in the space, but CLT Hub owner Jeff Matchen envisions so much more. Keenan says being Black in coffee, particularly craft coffee, is important for representation. For the father of three, it’s vital to be not only a coffee shop owner, but a continuous resource for the community.
“Coffee has always been a connector, you never know who’s gonna walk into a coffee shop. It promotes diversity; even though ownership isn’t diverse,” Keenan said. And he is working to change that. He told me about recently helping out a young man who had dreams of coffee ownership. Keenan purchased the student’s first coffee cart. “His family wondered what I wanted in exchange,” he recalled. But that’s the thing, for this barista/owner, the exchange and joy is simply in giving back to the community. When I ask Keenan if he thinks about coffee as Black, he said he does, and he learned much of what he knows about that history from CxffeeBlack. “Link me,” I say. Within five minutes, I receive a call from founder Maurice Henderson II, better known as Bartholomew Jones, who’s on the way with his wife and business partner, Renata Henderson, to a debut screening of their upcoming docuseries in Houston. The couple owns CxffeeBlack, a company that, as described on its website, “is primarily an entrepreneurial venture with specific social
implications, to reclaim the Black history of coffee and reimagine its Black future.” Among other things, CxffeeBlack offers up a coffee named Guji Man, named for the Guji zone in the Oromia region of Ethiopia where the couple has, with intention, sat down and cultivated holistic meaningful relationships with farmers and community leaders. Mane listen! I’m sold. I pace back and forth across the Evoke Coffee shop with caffeinated excitement. A Memphis native, Jones explains that his goal is to help “create an entire Black supply chain” complete with growers, harvesters, Q Graders and beyond. Creating dignity in coffee farming and trustworthy relationships in a land that has been abhorrently colonized is supreme. Jones tells me Black women were the original roasters of the world, a fact that gives me goosebumps (there’s nothing like seeing yourself in your legacy). In fact, his wife Renata, head roaster of Guji Mane, runs a program called Sit that mentors and trains other Black women in Memphis to roast coffee.
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An Evoke-ation
I hop off of a flight from New York and check my DM’s. Joe Keenan, owner of Evoke Coffee, has invited me to an event he’s hosting called Coffee After Dark. I can’t turn down an invite to a sold-out event, so I’m in there. The event boasts prominent Charlotte artists, such as Dammit Wesley on the turntables and Joél Baang, who is alongside the DJ booth setting up paintings. At Coffee After Dark, one can sip coffee (spiked or otherwise), dance and build on important community topics, which feels like the win I need today. This intersection of coffee, community and art is clearly where Keenan thrives. When we sit down the next morning, he serves me the blueberry cinnamon latte that I’ve continuously seen on my social media timeline. It’s not just hype; the coffee is surprisingly delicious. He shares that, like many of his house-made syrups, he
JOE KEENAN, OWNER OF EVOKE COFFEE.
PHOTO COURTESY OF EVOKE
