‘Black people drink coladas.’ How this restaurant brought coffee culture to Overtown
Monique Messer watched the protests in support of black lives march past the window of her Overtown coffee shop and wished she could join in.
“I wanted to be out there with them,” she said.
Just days earlier, Starbucks had been in the news for instructing its employees to not wear slogans in support of the Black Lives Matter movement before quickly changing its stance after public backlash.
For Messer and her partner, Keon Lewis — Black Liberty City natives who are raising a daughter together and own the Groovin’ Bean coffee shop in the heart of a historically Black Miami neighborhood — the issue and message are personal.
“We felt we had to make a statement,” Messer said.
So they created a new uniform shirt for themselves and their employees. The bright red T-shirts read, “Black Beans Matter. Get Your Knee Off Our Necks.” They’re also selling the T-shirt on their website.
“This is our way of having a voice. It tells people how we feel, what side of history we stand on,” Messer said. “We are all about inclusiveness, and we’re not afraid to take a stand.”
On a recent Tuesday, percolating Puro Fairtrade Coffee and the scent of buttery croissants grilling on the flattop for bacon-egg-and-cheese sandwiches filled the restaurant, where vinyl records from Etta James to Louis Armstrong line the walls. Regulars and new-comers dropped by.
Kristin Kitchen, who restored the historic Dunns-Josephine Hotel where countless Black performers stayed during segregation, made the first of three visits a week. On weekends she comes for Lewis’ lighter-than-air beignets.
“You eat every day. Why not commit to eating in your community?” she said.
‘Black people don’t drink coffee’
The Groovin’ Bean itself is a stance. Lewis and Messer opened the coffee shop a year ago, defying those — even their own neighbors — who told them, “Black people don’t drink coffee,” Lewis recalled. They wanted to create a meeting space they felt was missing in Black Miami.
“I wanted to prove them wrong,” Lewis said.
Lewis, a middle school teacher of U.S. history, government and economics, had started by baking cakes on the side five years ago after making one for an office birthday party that someone thought was so good it must be store-bought. He and Messer opened a stand inside the 79th Street flea market as SoBe Cakes, where their banana pudding, margarita Key lime and Crown Royal-infused red velvet made them a hit.
Their cakes were soon inside local convenience stores and many Black-owned restaurants, from the D.J. Khaled-promoted The Licking (formerly Finga Licking) to Little Haiti’s Chef Creole.
At the stand, they learned people loved their cakes especially with a side of coffee. A Cuban-American friend and customer came behind the counter and taught them to brew Cuban coffee coladas on an espresso machine they bought on eBay for $25.
“I was like, ‘Black people drink coladas. Who knew?’” Lewis joked.
Soon they were brewing Americanos, lattes and cold drinks, including a banana pudding frappe, complete with a Nilla wafer, that became their signature.
“We started getting really fancy,” he said.
A meeting space for Overtown
The audience was clearly there. The coffee shops weren’t. What has become an American cultural meeting space had not found a place in Black Miami — and Lewis wanted to change that.
“That wasn’t happening in the Black community,” Lewis said. “You don’t see this in Black neighborhoods. It was important for me to create that.”
He and Messer, who graduated together from Northwestern High School, found a spot on the ground floor of a renovated apartment building built by Black Bahamian entrepreneur EWF Stirrup at the edge of Overtown. You can see it just as you exit I-95, the interstate that split Overtown in the 1950s and contributed to the neighborhood’s collapse.
The CRA invested $300,000 to build out and furnish the shop over five years until the Groovin’ Bean opened in July of last year.
Messer and Lewis set out to make their café a meeting place, a resting place, a place for debate. They hold poetry slams, open mics and art events after hours. One set for July 7 splits proceeds between the Black Trans Lives Matter Youth Fund and homeless organizations. On Fridays, their restaurant becomes a lounge from 9 p.m. to midnight.
“We’re a hub where people can come and express themselves openly and feel free,” he said. “We have a place here where people can have an opinion and voice it.”
Supporting black businesses means spending
Meanwhile, Lewis continues his job a teacher at Carrie P. Meek. He teaches his students about topics that a white American education might skip over, such as the continuing issues of race in America and the Title I federal program that provides many of his students with free or reduced lunches.
“I always try to make it relatable to them,” he said.
The café is becoming the meeting place Messer and Lewis had hoped.
Derek Fleming, partner with celebrity chef Marcus Samuelsson at the nearby Red Rooster Overtown, stopped in Tuesday for a sandwich. Benicka Grant, a dancer in Little Haiti, found Groovin’ Bean listed among Black-owned restaurants and stopped in for the first time wearing a Black Lives Matter mask.
“I want to show support and spend my money at places that I know appreciate it,” she said.
Lewis said he has seen an influx of white customers, too, who wanted to pledge support by doing more than wearing a shirt or a pin — by spending their money.
“It’s important not just to talk about economic empowerment,” Lewis said. “You have to put your money where your mouth is.”
Groovin’ Bean
801 NW 3rd Ave., Suite #104, Overtown. GroovinBean.com. 786-353-2566
This story was originally published July 1, 2020 at 1:21 PM.
