Barista Magazine

JUN-JUL 2016

Serving People Serving Coffee Since 2005

Issue link: http://baristamagazine.epubxp.com/i/686001

Contents of this Issue

Navigation

Page 21 of 91

22 barista magazine F O A M REDEMPTION SONG: TRADE & LORE COFFEE BRINGS NEW LIFE TO THE COMMUNITY OF ASHEVILLE, N.C. IN RECENT YEARS, I have become a realist. When times get tough, I prefer to see them as they are. How can you land on your feet at the end of a fall if you refuse to acknowledge you are falling? Often reaching the bottom means you've reached the end of the line, which usually leads to better times ahead. If you know this, you can get past the nastiness of unpleasant situations and enter the stretch of new life waiting to be realized. After learning about the veiled misogyny of owners of a well-known West Asheville, N.C., coffee shop last September, I felt deep compassion for the women involved, the hurting and disappointed members of my community, and the owners of the shop, Waking Life, whom I had known through the coffee industry. While their story received nationwide attention and led to the abrupt fallout of their business, I soon discovered a redemptive narrative rising out of the fall, on the shoulders of Lindsey Pitman, Sarah Winkler, and Brock Kehoe, owners of Trade & Lore Coffee, which just opened in April. Lindsey and Sarah were already friends in the coffee community. Sarah worked as a barista at Waking Life, and Lindsey owns and operates The Daily Press in Charlotte, N.C. When the Waking Life scandal was exposed, Sarah and Lindsey got to work planning how to make things right again for the Asheville community. "When the truth came out, we were charged. We are empowered women in coffee, we are both driven by our communities, social justice, and desire to be leaders in our industry," Lindsey says. These powerhouses knew they wanted to open a coffee shop in Asheville that would outshine the negativity and discreditable behavior of their former industry peers (Waking Life went out of business immediately following the exposure), fostering trust and life- giving relationships within their community. "We wanted a shop that would impress even the most particular of customers, but not stop at that—we wanted to be inclusive and accessible and empowering to everyone," Sarah adds. Their first action was to release a public statement through the West Asheville–based social media group WAX, on Facebook. This quickly became a platform of support from local community members offering to volunteer their time and skills to help get Trade & Lore Coffee up and running. Little did Sarah and Lindsey know, one of the The Asheville, N.C., coff ee community is healing since learning of the covert misogynistic tendencies of local café Waking Life's owners. The recent opening of Trade & Lore Coff ee, which focuses on community and inclusiveness, is proof of that. PHOTOS BY JOSHUA VASKO

Articles in this issue

Links on this page

view archives of Barista Magazine - JUN-JUL 2016
Subscribe to email alerts