Bring Short Sleeves Coffee to Swannanoa!

UPDATE November 20, 2024

Our town was hit by Hurricane Helene. It's been a complete mindset shift for us and our town we're working hard to figure out next steps. And in the interim...we're keeping folks updated on our social media pages.

You can follow along here:

Instagram

Facebook

In a nutshell...YES...we're still going to do this project. However, it's going to take us a bit longer to execute than we had hoped...and we've got some unique challenges now.

That being said, your support is still tremendous to us in this time! So thank you very much!!

-Daniel & Emily

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Daniel and Emily Lancaster here ~

We made this page pretty much just as a place to send people to for project updates. However, there are also many folks who want to know how to support us...so we thought we'd put that all that info out here as well!

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We're thrilled to share with you all a pretty major project we're working on. We're bringing Short Sleeves Coffee to SWANNANOA, NC!

A gathering place, Coffee Shop, and Coffee Roastery right in the heart of Historic Downtown Swannanoa...coming Fall 2024!

Here's the project:

SWANNA-SOMEWHERE:

At one point, Swannanoa was a thriving community, centered around the Beacon Blanket Factory...the heart of the Swannanoa Valley. Tragically, the factory closed, and then burned down in the early 2000s, and now many people have started comically dubbing it “Swanna-Nowhere”.

We don't think that phrase rings true. In recent years, many new businesses such as the Loot House, Terranova Brewing, Zella's Deli, and Ovenbird Kitchen have planted roots in Swannanoa. Simultaneously, the Beacon Village Park will be open soon, and we want to be part of this movement. We want to help create a thriving hub for community, connection, and pride in Swannanoa. We want people to say, "Swanna-Somewhere" :)

What if in 5 years:

-Swannanoa has a thriving "downtown", that the community is situated around?

-The name "Swanna-Nowhere" changes meaning, and residents have a renewed sense of pride in their little town?

-Residents who were born and raised in Swannanoa and have memories of Beacon Village in its heyday can see it alive again as their grandparents saw?

We don't think it's that much of a long shot to see this "what if" dream come true. In fact, the residents of Swannanoa are already doing this...we just want to be part of it too.

COFFEE MADE WITH CARE:

We're pretty serious about our coffee and can't wait to unveil our coffee and espresso bar. We'll offer coffee, espresso, a slow bar with Pour-Overs and flash brewed iced coffee, latte's, cold brew, teas, and some other creative drinks we've got in our repertoire.

We also roast our own coffee, and will be doing that on-site (You can buy our coffee here: www.shortsleevescoffee.com). So while you drink, you may be surrounded by burlap sacks of coffee, and will watch and smell the journey of coffee roasting unfold. We're excited to offer a window into that...we think it's a really cool process.

At some point, we'll open up events for the community to gather tasting coffees, learning how to brew coffee using different methods, and discussions surrounding sustainability, ethics, and how we find those things important in the coffee industry; and the implications we feel they have for just about every other industry.

SUMMARY:

Short Sleeves Coffee will offer its space as a hub for fantastic coffee served in a friendly way.

Seeking to build connection in Swannanoa through down-to-earth hospitality; all done over an intentionally prepared cup of coffee...we might say our goal succinctly like this:

Coffee and people; handled with care.

If we do those two things right, I'd say we've hit the mark.

ABOUT US (DANIEL & EMILY LANCASTER):

We've spent the last 10 years researching, working, and teaching in the coffee industry. You can read about our work here. It's this experience in the coffee industry that has launched Daniel and Emily into building Short Sleeves Coffee. We're excited to use our expertise to bring a truly craft coffee experience to residents of Swannanoa...showing people what beautiful things can come out of an otherwise ordinary brown bean.

With our 3 kids (Elliot, 5; Theodore, 3; and Louise, 2mos old), we have a strong desire to see Swannanoa change from a place commonly dubbed “Swanna-nowhere” to a place that people are excited about visiting, that locals have pride in, and that the community surrounding is thriving in. Particularly, we have a heart to see Beacon Village bloom, and truly believe that over our time here, we'll see the marvelous unfolding of a beautiful neighborhood, community, and people over thousands of cups of coffee served.

THE SPACE:

Situated in Swannanoa's historic Gas Station built in 1928, we're excited about the moments already shared in this space and are looking forward to the many new moments to come.

We are thankful for the work of restoration that we can do in bringing this building back to life (maybe just serving a different kind of fuel now?).

We hope you feel our hospitality welcome you when you enter our space. By "our" space, we mean, well, the people of Swannanoa's space.

We're going to make you incredible coffee. We think our coffee is top notch...and we care about it deeply. However, we want to share it with you in a laid back, accessible, down to earth, friendly manner.

You’re gonna get excellent coffee, sure. However, more than that, with every cup you drink, and every time you step into our cafe, we invite you to remember the simple, ordinary things in life. We’ll encourage you to loosen up your tie…and maybe undo that top button too. You don't have to put on layers and pretend here...there's no dress code; just come in your short sleeves.

Coming fall 2024...

Here's how to support:

1. We'd love to roast some coffee for you! Growing our base of roasting customers now is the best thing for our business! So you can order some here if you like coffee and that sounds interesting to you!

2. If you just want support us financially...or don't like coffee...etc...then you can make a gift here on Gofundme (thank you!)

3. Keep up with our progress and tell your friends what's going on in our pretty awesome Beacon Village!

Once we're open, we're gonna find a way to thank all of our supporters as a visible sign of the community at work together. So thank you in advance for your support!