A while back, The Delta Review reviewed the Anti-Gentrification Coffee Club, where hip-hop artist and master coffee roaster Cxffeeblack served up coffee and fellowship. At that time, he talked of moving into a larger space nearby, and here, a little over a year later, that dream has become reality. The Anti-Gentrification Coffee Club has moved into a beautiful larger brick building a half-block north of the old location, and although the space is somewhat larger, it still is packed to the brim at noontime hours. While everyone is welcome, Cxffeeblack is about reintroducing coffee culture to Black folks. Coffee after all was discovered in Africa, perhaps by a shepherd boy named Kaldi. At least he gets the credit, as he wrote a poem in which he complained that his sheep would not drift off to sleep because they had eaten a strange berry.
That strange berry, the cascara, is the fruit of which coffee beans are the pits, and Cxffeeblack roasts some of the best coffee in the city of Memphis. After a delicious oat milk latte (be aware that Cxffeeblack does not offer dairy products, because there is a high degree of lactose intolerance in Black communities), I ordered a chocolate chip cookie. As can be seen in the picture above, the cookie was as big as a pancake, and filled a regular sized plate. Heated, it was both comforting and delicious.
I finally decided to buy a bag of beans to take home, but struggled with which one to choose. I finally opted for Fruit of Our Labor, a Rwandan coffee that included passionfruit as a tasting note. When brewed at home on my Capresso Coffee Team grind and brew unit, the fruity flavor was most pronounced and unusual, but in a very pleasant way. Cxffeeblack’s coffees are not cheap, but drinking his beans after recently completing a bag of commercial beans from the supermarket highlights the difference between quality coffee carefully roasted, and the mass production model of the corporations. The hours of the Anti-Gentrification Club are sadly limited, but as the employees seem worked to distraction when they are open, I understand fully. They need their rest for sure. And this has to be one of the very few coffee bars in the world with a DJ booth and turntables.
Cxffeeblack Anti-Gentrification Coffee Club
3386 Bowen Avenue
Memphis, TN 38122
(901) 672-4403