by Shayla Martin | Mar 31, 2016 | April 2016, Eat
Can coffee change the world? It’s one question former engineer Bill Landahl asked himself when he bought his first coffee roaster in 2012. Unlike most who start coffee roasting companies, Landahl’s business wasn’t born from a multi-decade passion for coffee, but instead from a deep calling to make a difference in the world one cup of Joe at a time. He noticed a disconnect between the $3 to $5 cost for a cup of specialty coffee, and the third-world status of the countries where the beans were sourced. Deeper research led him to learn that most fair-trade farmers only earn $0.20 per pound from their coffee sales, even if the beans cost a dollar per pound because so many middlemen take their share of the sale.
Landahl made up his mind that breaking out of this outdated fair trade system was how he’d leave his mark locally. Oak City Coffee Roasters specializes in direct trade, meaning the per pound purchase of the coffee beans goes directly to the farmer, immediately increasing their quality of life. Kabum, their award-winning blend, is from the Ugandan farm of Grace Chesang, a woman who was able to send her children to college thanks to working with Oak City. Stories similar to hers can be heard on coffee bean farms in El Salvador, Guatemala and Costa Rica.
Improving lives in under-developed countries while enjoying the fruits of their labors in Raleigh gave birth to Landahl’s personal motto, “Love Locally, Love Globally”, one that is now being embraced by other cafes in the area who brew with Oak City beans including Cafe de los Muertos.
“It’s a local celebration,” says Landahl. “We love that we can have the best coffee in the world and make it right here. I want Oak City to have the personality of Raleigh, where people really care about and love what they create.”
High quality, locally-roasted beans was a big reason why Crema on Fayetteville chose to source from Oak City Coffee Roasters. “He’s three streets away, you can get more local than that,” says Mikhail Jannik, General Manager of Crema.
“Raleigh is not a slow moving southern city. People are very forward thinking and support businesses that want to do things differently,” says Landahl. “On top of that, coffee is an affordable luxury that ties in so well with this movement in Raleigh to connect with where your food comes from.”
That love for Raleigh has extended directly into his newest project, City Cups, coffee pods prepared by a team of workers with autism and other disabilities from local non-profit Wake Enterprises. Through the City Cups initiative, Oak City Coffee Roasters has been able to come full circle with its motto, spreading the love both abroad and right here in Raleigh.
by Shayla Martin | Mar 31, 2016 | April 2016, Do
Since September 2013, Kinston has basked in the spotlight thanks to the wildly popular “A Chef’s Life,” the PBS documentary series that follows Chef Vivian Howard and her husband, Ben Knight, as they run their farm-to-table restaurant, Chef & The Farmer.
The program showcases the town’s tight-knit community of farmers, artisans and brewers. Broadcast to 96 percent of the U.S., the show boasts 2.5 million viewers. Only in its third season, it’s already won a Peabody and a Daytime Emmy. And for four years straight, Howard was a semi-finalist for the James Beard title of Best Chef in the Southeast. All this fanfare can make it tough to get a table, however. Reservations are accepted 90 days in advance, but the bar area is first come/first serve, and many diners have luck popping in. Howard and Knight are also good about updating the restaurant’s Facebook page with open last-minute reservations.
Chef & The Farmer
Although it would be easy to take the eastward, hour-and-a-half drive just for a taste of Chef Howard’s seasonal menu, stay a little longer.
The town, more than 200 years old, is home to important moments in history, and visitors can retrace the past at Kinston Civil War Battlefield Park and the CSS Neuse Civil War Interpretive Center for a glimpse of a Confederate Navy ironclad boat.
And Kinston’s public art trail—the largest public art collection in North Carolina—gives an unexpected showcase of creative metalwork with its animals and murals. The metal animals by NC artist Jonathan Bowling create a sort of entrance to the arts and cultural district at Mitchell and West Blount streets. Just this month Kinston finished phase one of its Arts Riverwalk, a pedestrian and bicycle friendly path that follows the Neuse River, linking the arts and cultural district to the downtown entertainment district.
Kinston is a great stop for the art-loving foodie.
Pit Stops:
Kinston Music Park, Spring Hill and South Queen streets, africanamericanmusicnc.com
Dawn to dusk daily.
Kinston is a stop on the eight-county African American Music Trail of North Carolina, thanks to Nat Jones, Dick Knight and Levi Rashbury, all influential members of the James Brown Band and Kinston natives. The Kinston Music Park honors them and other African American musicians through sculptures, mosaics and song lyrics etched in concrete through the park.
Middle Grounds Coffeehouse, 212 N. Herritage Street
7 a.m. – 7 p.m.
After noticing the lack of coffee shops in downtown Kinston, entrepreneur Jessica Dawson decided to open her own this past September. Pop in for a Happy Camper frappe with flavors of marshmallow, chocolate and shortbread, and stay late Thursday evenings for open mic night from 7 to 9 pm.
Mother Earth Brewery, 311 N. Herritage Street, motherearthbrewing.com
Born from a deep respect for the art of brewing, Mother Earth Brewery proudly serves a variety of beers, even some made with American-grown hops. Free tours are available Tuesday through Saturday; make sure to enjoy the beer garden on a sunny day.
