Albuquerque is certainly not a coffee desert.

Since the beginning of the pandemic, we have watched in amazement as every corner on every major road is built up as a food or coffee drive through – or a gas station. Whether it’s a drive through like Starbucks (about 60 of them in ABQ and still building), Dutch Bros, or other some other franchise system like McDonald’s, Dunkin’, or Speedway Gas, we are in the midst of a land rush! Who would have thought coffee would join the golden ranks of fast food? — We’ve made it to the big time.

Mind you, I’m not exactly complaining. I’m thrilled to see America finally embracing coffee in all its strengths, sizes and varieties. I’ve always believed that if you have to be addicted to something, caffeine is the best addiction to have!

For us little guys who have chosen to keep our noses to the roasters and who keep searching for great beans and roasting in small batches, it’s always been about the coffee. There are NO corners that cost a million dollars for us, no dispensers charged up with premixed concoctions or automated machines. Because of this, I figure most of us coffee locals are doing quite well.

Some people love coffee, some just need the fix. But coffee is powerful and meaningful enough to satisfy our different identities and needs. Sometimes, one of your selves might be a mom or dad in a car filled with kids – caffeine without leaving the car is prescribed. Or, you’re a traveler off I-40 in some strange pit stop – staying in the car a good strategy. During the time when COVID was raging, did you really feel like talking to a bunch of baristas?

Then there is that other self which recognizes the smell of freshly roasted beans and brews, recognizes their intrinsic goodness. There must be times when you long to part the seas of all that cream and sugar and get down into that deep coffee experience which goes beyond the caffeine rush.

Us local guys have built our businesses around

people + coffee = roasting

…crafting drinks, and dosing shots of community along with drinks. We revel in creating welcoming, interesting spaces that allow people to get together because conversations always begin with coffee.

So, when time and life permit, take just a few seconds more and come inside. Walk up to a place designed for YOU – not your car – and ask that human across the counter to make you something truly special.