You may know Bentonville, Arkansas as the home of Wal-Mart, America’s real life Mega Lo Mart. Or if you are coffee-minded—which presumably you are—you may know B-ville as the home of Onyx Coffee Lab, the roaster/cafe that has taken the coffee competition world by storm the past few years. But Bentonville’s coffee conversation doesn’t start and stop with Onyx. And Airship Coffee would like to have a word.
Roasting on a 50-year-old Probat, Airship Coffee is looking to carve out their own corner of Northwest Arkansas by focusing on coffee and relationships. Having beer on tap certainly won’t hurt either. So let’s check in with the new kid on the block, Airship Coffee in Bentonville, Arkansas.
As told to Sprudge by Dakota Graff.
For those who aren’t familiar, will you tell us about your company?
Airship Coffee started under a lime tree in Honduras, as farmers looked for a better way to sell coffee in order to make a living. Since our beginning, we’ve been committed to going above and beyond in all aspects of our business. This commitment is about creating the perfect cup of coffee, and it’s about doing right by the people that we encounter along that journey for the perfect cup.
Can you tell us a bit about the new space?
This is a roastery cafe. The space is built into the front of our roastery, in full view of our 1964 Probat GG 90 and our packaging line. This will be a industrial modern space, with all white equipment and a warm wood and galvanized steel bar. Lots of natural light coming through two garage doors, with a big patio and 10 beers on tap.
Any machines, coffees, special equipment lined up?
We aren’t reinventing the wheel too much on this buildout. We’ll have a La Marzocco Linea PB with Mahlkönig grinders, a hidden Curtis G4 brewer, with a powder-coated white Curtis Gold Cup brewer on back bar. This is the bar I always wanted to work as a barista. Clean, simple, and powerful.
What’s your hopeful target opening date/month?
We are gunning for July 4th of this summer.
Thank you!
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