Quite possibly the coolest coffee shop in America. The Gold Standard.
Work took me through Arkansas once again and I had no choice but to stop at the new Onyx Coffee Lab HQ in Rogers, AR. I’d seen photos online and it looked beautiful and I only assumed the pictures didn’t do it justice. It’s safe to say, I was absolutely right.
After a nice little drive down the main drag in town, my buddy Jordan & I pulled up to the “1907 Building” and walked inside. First impression, WOW. What an incredible space! Designed really well. Massive custom light up marble modbar, huge roaster in the back, additional seating above the bar, a bakery, an event space, a merchandise nook with a tower of coffee and gear, SO much seating and a ton of natural light flooding throughout the cafe.
The food was phenomenal and the drinks were on par with the some of the fanciest mixologist you’ve ever seen. I went with a single origin natural espresso on my cortado and it was A+, the brekky sandwich was easily in my top 5, I’ve ever had. They called it the C&C. In-between two extra flaky croissants was a baked egg, chorizo, chimichurri and cotija cheese, absolute flavor bomb. The grain bowl was killer and the pickled onions and cauliflower made it memorable. Next up was a fresh lemon blueberry muffin and a mojito donut to pair with my natural Colombian brew. WOW. Just when I thought it couldn’t get any better, we order 2 specialty drinks. First up was the “Tropic like it’s Hot” which was Cold Brew, Pineapple, Bitters & Tajin. Super refreshing. Last but not least, the “Mascarpwned” Cold Brew, Passionfruit, Mascarpone & Allspice. A sweet, creamy, spicy and fruity mocktail that just polished everything off.
All of this in…Arkansas! Not that there is anything wrong with Arkansas (The Ozarks are beautiful) but this is not at all what you would expect especially considering everything else you see in town. What an experience. I could not be more impressed. While I was hoping to see Bear there, who hooked me up with some sweet gear at SCA in Seattle, there was a super nice dude names Clint took very good care of us while we were there. We took a mini tour of the whole space and it was absolute heaven for a coffee nerd like me. While I was there, I made a new friend named Lane and ended up chatting with him for 4 hours! That was just the cherry on top of this whole experience! I can’t wait to hopefully visit this shop again down the road. If you ever find yourself in Walmart-Land or can even detour a bit on a road trip, this place is worth it without a doubt!