Support High Noon Coffee's Hurricane Recovery Journey

High Noon is going to close the shop for a while as we assess the damage

I started this business seven years ago with tip money and a head full of coffee school ( yup that’s a thing/ it’s a trade ) . I came from a small business background ( my father owned and operated a sawmill for 25 years) and was sure that if I loved it enough I could work it out, but I had big shoes to fill. I’ve never needed much I thought in terms of material things, if I just stay the course maybe I can survive off my passion. I’ve spent the last 6 years working 3 jobs to support this small business ( savvy, no /hardworking, yes) . I just hired my first employee this year and quit my other two jobs ( construction cleaning and bartending) . As a roaster I focused on wholesale and collaboration with other artists and businesses. I personally kept a low profile. I have relied heavily on word of mouth advertising, not social media, which is why some of you may be unfamiliar with my coffee company. ( Scroll through my posts and it is glaring obvious. )Being primarily a wholesale roaster you may never see my name on the bag but if you are staying at a cute airbnb in the woods with personalized coffee bags you might in one of my friends homes or if you visit a brewery like Homeplace in Burnsville or Hiwire Brewing in Biltmore Village and drink a coffee stout, you have had my coffee. Yesterday I walked in my shop to fill a few small retail orders … it took me 1 hour, I am accustomed to 10 hour days … I finally cried… my business is gone ( for a while) . Some of my largest accounts are physically not standing and the path is uncertain for each and every local business and hotels ( yes I make lots of tiny coffee bags for downtown hotels / yes I do it all by hand ). I want to continue to serve my retail customers but in this moment I need to repair the damages to my home to make it liveable also come up with a new plan of action for my business. I will continue on my own path towards helping the community and am working on a few projects that I will post about when ready. I will also just show up at your house with cold brew coffee, if you know me text me ❤️

I will offer retail coffee for sale off my site as soon as the city allows. Right now there is a lack of water and conditions are not sanitary or safe to operate within city limits.

Gratitude

It’s hard to explain what things are like here right now. There was so much loss all at once, so much to do, so many people to help, and not a lot of direction. We are all exhausted. The community has come together in a beautiful way, but there is a lot of trudging ahead..

I’ve lived in Asheville for 15 years. When I moved here I knew I was going to spend the rest of my life here. I have always loved these mountains. I opened a business and planted roots. My business is an extension of myself, my quirky personality ,my love for machines , my art, my passion for coffee and all things science, and then whoosh it’s gone…. ( For a while ) but so were the mountains I loved, the places I went, the water I drank everyday, any sort of creature comfort, and friends ( we are all still looking for people).

I had an old childhood friend that I had recently planned to reunite with on a weekend getaway breakthrough the bounds of communication here and ask if she could help. I of course said no, she did it anyways. She started this GoFundMe and with all the destruction around me and I was shy to even promote it. I wanted to keep my business, I want to keep my life… But there’s still so many others to save, it was a moral conflict I was having internally. She did it for me… Thank you Rhy.

Communications here is still very spotty, but my mom called me yesterday and let me know that my go fund me had made some money. When I looked, my stomach dropped. It was the first glimmer of hope I’ve seen in a week. The business I had been pushing aside (telling myself this was not a time to think about yourself but others) was going to survive another month. There is a long road ahead, but for just for a month my business was safe. I can breathe. I can make repairs to my home. I can go out and help friends with a clear head knowing that there’s just one thing I haven’t lost yet.

It’s difficult to have a clear head right now, but the gratitude is overwhelming. I am out of tears. Names I haven’t seen since I was 10 years old. A couple names I didn’t recognize, a few anonymous donors. Within 24 hours your donations stabilized my business (and gave hope to many others). Western North Carolina is a tight knit community… I sell coffee to such a variety of customers that I could not give clear answers to on whether or not I would be open if they were able to reopen. I have a lot of wholesale accounts in these communities that were hit the hardest. I can now focus my efforts on getting into those areas and helping clean up, not everybody knows these back roads well. People with families had to evacuate to take care of their children. These conditions are not stable here, and very dangerous in a lot of areas. Not everybody is in place to help, but I am. Now it’s time to just point my feet in the right direction and get things done. My head is clear, my business is stabilized for a month, am freed up to help. I cannot tell you how much that means to me. Thank you all.

I’m not very good with words, but I hope you all know how much this means to me personally and this community as a whole. We can get through this, we will get through this. Please keep this town in your prayers.

Note from Rhy:

This amazing woman owns a small coffee roasting business in Asheville that has been impacted by the storm. She will never ask for help for herself, but she deserves it and much more. Homes and small businesses in Asheville will not recover without our help. Please learn more about her amazing entrepreneur journey in the coffee roasting business - High Noon Coffee