PRINCETON, WV (WOAY) – Some affiliated with the new Dream Bean Coffee House have a 20-year history in the space where it now resides.
Coffee houses are the pulse of a neighborhood — and Dream Bean is thrilled to be a go-to for locals.
“A friend of mine was talking to me and said, ‘You know, the best way to ensure there’s always a coffee house in that space is for y’all to open one,” said Riffraff Arts Collective director Lori McKinney.
The camaraderie at the Dream Bean is evident.
“Everybody’s so welcoming here, and even the customers, like they’re happy to be here,” barista Alyssa Delp said. “We’re happy to be here. And it’s just a really amazing community. We’re getting to know the person, and while we’re doing that we’re actually taking the time to craft a good beverage.”
Creating the Dream Bean – the energy and time give rise to this community coffee house together is what McKinney says makes it so special.
“So we really searched for one,” she said. “A business owner here, Service Cleaners, introduced us to John Pounds, who has Appalachian Coffee House in Mount Nebo and we recruited him here to create a community coffeehouse.”
You can chill on the couches and chairs. The Dream Bean also has various reading materials and activities.
“A bunch of, like, game boards and everything back there,” said Delp. “We just want to make sure that this is a very welcoming space and you have things to do.”
The synergy of the neighborhood started when McKinney’s sister’s music school originally opened there.
“That’s when people were walking across the street,” the RiffRaff Arts Collective director said. “And that’s how you get that sort of downtown district flowing is where people start walking from one place to another.”
Delp is looking forward to Dream Bean’s upcoming workshops.
“We’re gonna have, like, sewing on some days. We’re gonna have like the stage set up to do music,” she said. ” and I’m just really excited for all of that.”
This is such a neighborhood space. They’re helping people express themselves, with local artists’ work displayed throughout the walls and enjoying the coffee while doing it.
“Everyone’s standing in the space right now and all those who have built it, there’s this collectivity around it, knowing that we sort of gave rise to it as a community,” said McKinney. “I think that’s a really beautiful thing and a lot of people know that this is their coffee house.”
