![]() Approaching from the south or east, the ebony building looks to be a stand-alone structure it isn’t until pulling around to the westward-facing entrance that it’s clear Onyx is part of a larger complex. Set in the corner spot in a retail strip overlooking a lumber yard, the exterior of Onyx is matte black, contrasting the off-white of the rest of the storefronts, giving a distinct sense of otherness. The physical structure of Onyx embodies this confluence: it is a shop that feels both embedded in and yet somehow distinct from its environment. Northwest Arkansas is a compendium of different worlds, where modern influence exists within pastoral landscapes, not attempting to supplant its surroundings but instead commingle with them. And yet is only two miles from the University of Arkansas and its yearly replenishing 25,000 person student body of hip twenty-somethings-about one third of Fayetteville’s total population, and around 6% of the total population of the quad-country region of Fayetteville, Springdale, Rogers, and Bentonville. The route involves single-lane, street light-less roads carving through the Ozarks’ rolling hills, surrounded on all sides by dense thickets of leafless oaks, punctuated by evergreen needles from the occasional pine. The drive to Fayetteville from our home in Texas truly presents Northwest Arkansas. So, Valentine’s Day weekend (sorry, wife) seemed like the best time to make a trip up to Fayetteville and officially introduce the world to a shop that people in the south, and in the know, have been in love with for some time now. But to those of us in the south, it’s no surprise. Onyx has been building a reputation as one of coffee’s more forward-thinking southern shops/roasters for some time now. Building this impressive of a resume over such a short period of time is certainly going to turn some heads, especially when the shop doing it is borne of the non-metropolitan south, a region not typically thought to be the home of progressive coffee scenes. Last week, Onyx sent two representatives to Long Beach for the United States Coffee Championships-co-owner Andrea Allen competed in the Barista Championship thanks to her second place finish in the South Central Regional, and Dylan Siemens competed in the Latte Art Championship. In January, the company was named one of the winners of the Good Food Awards, the state’s first. 2015 is starting out strong for Northwest Arkansas’ Onyx Coffee Lab. ![]()
0 Comments
Leave a Reply. |
AuthorWrite something about yourself. No need to be fancy, just an overview. ArchivesCategories |