OUR STORY
The Commonplace was born out of a desire to love coffee and love people: We fell in love with coffee as much as we loved serving it to people. We see coffee as a way to build community; as such, we see The Commonplace as a community builder – a way to care for people through making beautiful coffees in neighborhood spaces.
We started The Commonplace in 2003, but the desire to be a part of coffee started in the mid-90’s. We both had our start in coffee at a coffee shop in Raleigh, NC, Cup a Joe. We worked in coffee shops through undergrad, seminary, and travel. We fell in love with coffee in college. Not just coffee but the coffee shop culture: a place like no other, no rush to leave, quiet time to read, study, reflect, or time to socialize with others, meet new people – it opened our world. As we traveled (this is where those buses come in) we always looked for local coffee shops, but we found it very difficult to find a shop that we felt did a good job of making good coffee and providing the atmosphere we envisioned. We had an understanding of what we loved about coffee culture and wanted to create it elsewhere. We knew we never wanted to leave coffee culture – it had become so much a part of who we were as individuals and as a couple.
