Walking home from a morning trip to the ever-lovely Biscuit Bitch in Seattle (which I adore for the name as much as for their incredible biscuits), I stumbled upon Convoy Coffee: a pedal-powered coffee stand. I immediately fell in love. Two adorable Seattleites were standing in frigid winter temperatures (at least by PNW standards) to deliver up some cups of joe. And, better yet, they had pedaled there!
Founders David Rothstein and Alex Johnstone dreamed up the idea of an environmentally-friendly food cart after researching other such carts across the globe. After finding their inspiration, they took to the streets. Formerly known as Handlebar Coffee (until a roster in California by the same name sent them a cease and desist letter), Convoy has been a staple at the Ballard and Fremont Farmer’s Markets in Seattle for the last seven months.
I caught them in downtown Seattle — serving up free, hand-poured roasts for a JCPenney campaign (under the rather menacing #JustGotJingled tag).
Founder Alex Johnstone gave me the scoop. They source all of their roasts from locals to keep Seattle-specific and incredibly educational. They think of themselves as:
“A farmer’s market in a farmers market.”
They want to spread the joy of local roasts to the greater Seattle population — targeting roasters who don’t have their own storefront or much of a local presence — to bring local flavor into the homes and hearts of Seattleites.
As for the pedaling, they both joked that they try and avoid hills as much as possible. David Rothstein’s gone through three sets of breaks thus far. I’d say that makes their self-constructed (with the help of a local welder), cycling-powered carts pretty darn heavy.
And, if you wondering, the cup of coffee they gave me was delicious.
http://instagram.com/p/wHRwSLKzpc/?modal=true
If you’d like to get your own taste of pedal-powered coffee, hit up the Ballard market every Sunday and follow them on Twitter (@convoycoffee).
Just keep spinning. — AP