Honeybee Coffee is a new cafe in Knoxville that takes pride in its freshly roasted coffee. Kristin Dehkordi • The Daily Beacon
Local coffee shop brings life to South Knox Jenna Butz Arts & Culture Editor Honeybee Coffee started in an Airstream trailer, selling coffee they roasted themselves at festivals, parties — anywhere they could share their mission of ethically sourced coffee. “We really just want to make sure that whether it’s how we source the coffee, how we’re roasting it, how we’re serving it, that people are being taken care of,” general manager Ben Poland said. “We want to farmer to be able to feed his family, send his kids to school. We want our employees here to be able to make a living wage and be able to support themselves and their families, and we want to be able to take care of everybody who walks into the store. Honeybee was started with that goal in mind in that trailer.” Now, Honeybee has set down roots, opening
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its first store on Sevier Avenue in South Knoxville and bringing its mission with it. The South Knoxville location opened in January, and its opening brought a new amenity to those who live across the river. “We saw the opportunity for how this side of the river really needed a coffee shop,” Poland said. “There wasn’t really anything like that. South Knoxville has kind of been ignored for a while, and thankfully that’s starting to change. We were excited to be one of the first people to get in here and help South Knoxville and give it some attention.” Hannah Overton, UT alumna and photographer, lives less than five minutes from the shop. She stumbled upon it on its opening day, and comes back often to work. “It was busy, of course, but it wasn’t too hectic,” Overton said of Honeybee’s opening day. “The baristas were friendly and knew what they were
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doing. In fact, every time I go, I get my drink in record time, and someone always smiles at me and asks how my day is going.” Along with laying roots where other coffee shops hadn’t before, Honeybee Coffee also roasts their own coffee beans and roasts them responsibly, which Poland said sets them a part from other shops in Knoxville. “We are constantly trying to source better coffee — both coffee that tastes better and coffee that is more and more ethically sourced,” Poland said. “All the coffees we serve, we are either working directly with the farms or working with importers who are very transparent about how they source the coffee, how much is being paid to the farmers, so we’re really doing a lot to make sure we are serving the best quality coffee but we’re also serving coffee that is sourced in a responsible manner.” See HONEYBEE on Page 6
Wednesday, February 15, 2017