Grow with Black Coffee…in Africa.

Hi friends!

My name is Aloha Mischeaux. I am an artist and the founder and owner of one the coolest coffee shops in St. Louis, Mo,

”Black Coffee.” Black Coffee sources and features coffee brands, roasters and small farms of color all over the world. I have had the honor of building & sharing this business in one of my most favorite parts of my city, Cherokee Street. Cherokee Street embraced me as an artist and now as a business owner. I don’t think there’s any other place in the world at that time, that would have blindly supported this idea than my hometown. For that it makes me even more proud to be from St. Louis. I’m absolutely stoked for the next chapter of Black Coffee!

If you’re a new friend joining the Black Coffee train, let me catch you cup, I mean up! Lol. Here’s how it all started.

During Covid I was in the house like everyone else trying not to go crazy. Especially, after coming back from LA, and learning that all my gig’s had been canceled, with no prospects. Needless to say, I was a little lost. My roommates at the time were tirelessly working at their computers morning ‘til night on zoom meetings trying to keep their wits about them also. Being the only person in the house without an essential job, I did what any sane person would do; I started making coffee! It instantly helped calm the anxieties we all had. Who knew a warm cup of coffee made by a friend could do that? We purchased so much coffee during that time it got me thinking about where those dollars were going, and if any of those coffee brands were black owned. After researching and going down a rabbit hole of the coffee industry I learned this.. 400 million cups of coffee are sold in a day. Coffee in the U.S makes over 87 billon dollars a year, beating the sports industry. Only 3% of those operations are black owned or p.o.c owned. Coffee is the 2nd largest commodity in the world next to oil. It is arguably the most consumed beverage next to water. Now being a black owned and woman owned business in the coffee industry, I understand greatly how vital the economics and representation of the people who farm coffee is.

So, when it was safe to come out of our homes again, I researched and found 3 black owned coffee brands in the city. I got a table, some cream, some sugar, and popped BC up at my neighborhood “Business Owner Morning Mixer” and presented Black Coffee for the first time. It was very well received. This event secured me more pop up gigs for the next 6 months. Soon after, I was presented an opportunity from my now collaborative partners at The Luminary Arts Gallery on Cherokee Street to test my business model out in their space at a vacant kiosk. After meeting with Kalaija Mallory, the gallery director, we instantly shared the vision and the mission to reactivate the space and allow people to come out of their homes and learn how to gather again. I opened the doors September 8, 2021, and the people came. We’ve been off to the races ever since.

Within the first year, I learned so much about BC and the multiple operations that will help the business sustain. My customers have shown me that they want Black Coffee. in their neighborhoods, in their local stores, their work, and their communities. To me, this sounds like becoming a major coffee distributor like a Ronnoco or Community Coffee. Supplying bulk coffee beans & grounds for major companies and organizations that Black Coffee. can secure long term clients with. My first year I was blessed to go to Ghana and visit a few coffee farms and learn how to harvest coffee and how it’s distributed commercially by the farmers. The women of the Ho West District in the Volta Region of Ghana gave me so much knowledge and encouragement to obtain land in Africa and grow a coffee farm for Black Coffee. I immediately got chills, because my intuition told me that this was a key part of giving Black Coffee sustainability. In order to know where we’re going, I had to go to the mountain top, which metaphorically and physically I did! I climbed a huge mountain to farm the coffee and to see what I was capable of.

Through my efforts of growing BC this first year I’ve been blessed to support a college education for 22 yr old, David Kemey, one of the kids that I met at the Volta Home Orphanage when I visited Ghana. He is now attending Regional Maritime University in Accra as a port & shipping major and is currently at the top of his class. His education is not only to support himself, but he is learning the skills that are necessary to help as Black Coffee. grows into an intercontinental Coffee operation shipping coffee all over the world.

With all that said, I am fundraising for my next source trip back to Africa to further educate myself on acquiring coffee farmland for Black Coffee and to of course bring coffee home to BC to roast and package. My intention for this trip is to better strengthen my partnerships with other small farms for coffee importing as I start the process for planting my own seedlings for coffee land (which takes 3-5 years to mature). This next chapter is crucial to growing the business beyond a coffee shop, but a movement and representation for black owned coffee operators all of the world. It would be my pleasure to have you be apart of this next chapter and Grow with Black Coffee…in Africa.

Thank you & Cheers. ☕️

For more info about BC, check out our social’s & website:

@blackcoffee.works

www.blackcoffee.works