It's CC OWD's (Old West Durham) 10th anniversary this year. And while this year finishing the buildout and moving into the new Little Waves Coffee Roastery has taken a lot of attention and still is, we wanted to use our cool weather menu to celebrate this milestone. Beyond celebration, we're using this marking of time to look back to our roots and look ahead, continuing to affirm our ideals and re-ignite the work to achieve them more and more in the coming years.
This fall we'll be sharing about the specifics and "secrets" of CC OWD's design... We'll be launching a new 10th anniversary glass, and have even more shop specific specials.
You'll find a deeper look into this menu below. For now, let's say that the menu explores perspective and what it means to value life when we can move beyond ourselves. As part of our celebration $1 per wonder drink will go to important non profit organizations in our community. We also encourage you to use the occasion to contribute to them directly. You'll find links below with the drinks.
Earthset captured through the Orion spacecraft window at 6:41 p.m. EDT, April 6, 2026, during the Artemis II crew’s flyby of the Moon. A muted blue Earth with bright white clouds sets behind the cratered lunar surface. The dark portion of Earth is experiencing nighttime. On Earth’s day side, swirling clouds are visible over the Australia and Oceania region. In the foreground, Ohm crater has terraced edges and a flat floor interrupted by central peaks—formed when the surface rebounded upward during the impact that created the crater. Credit: NASA - taken by Christina Koch
EARTHSET
MARKING 10 YEARS OF CC OWD -
SHIFTING PERSPECTIVE THROUGH VISION & STORIES
Menu Part 1 - September 10 - November 9
Toon UP x Fess UP
Cold Brew with Espresso, topped with sweetened condensed milk and raw sugar
Slow brewed iced coffee w/ espresso pulled through sweetened condensed milk, and topped with raw sugar. Named after Lord Fess (then Professor Toon) a hip hop artist and friend riffing off the fact that CC OND used to be a gas station.
$1 per drink goes to SEEDS, a two-acre urban garden and kitchen classroom in the heart of Durham. @seedsdurham
Tower of Babel
A local honey latte topped with Date sugar
The Tower of Babel story is one told in many cultures and histories, and is a classic tale of the downfall of humanity that comes from when we become arrogant, self absorbed, and forget our mortality and fallibility. This drink, using local honey and date sugar, offers a simple pleasure in the wonder that is part of existence when we look back to stories and remain curious about others, languages, places, landscapes, and the world and universe beyond.
$1 per drink goes to CWS Durham who welcomes refugees, immigrants, and asylum-seekers from around the globe into lives of freedom, hope, and opportunity. @cwsdurhamnc
A Gift To Those Who Contemplate The Wonders of Cities and the Marvel of Traveling
Iced macadamia milk Continuum Matcha latte with rose, honey and cardamom
Named after and plays off of Moroccan traveler Ibn Battuta’s 29 years of traveling the world from Tangier to China and many places in between.
$1 per drink will goes to Families Moving Forward who offers a temporary home to families with children in the crisis of homelessness. @familiesmovingforwardnc
The Transit of Venus
Iced oat latte made w/ lemon powder, cardamom, mace, & house-made vanilla syrup.
Every 120 or so years, the planet Venus, named after the Roman goddess of love & beauty, traverses the sun. In the 1600s, humans had discovered 6 planets, but didn’t know their true absolute distance in relation to the
Earth, to each other, and across our solar system. The transit of Venus helped us figure it out.
$1 per drink goes to the LGBTQ Center of Durham, creating visibility, encouraging partnerships, fostering community, standing for justice. @lgbtqdurham
Las Olmecas
A dark drinking chocolate with real vanilla and cayenne pepper
In honor of the Olmecs who lived in what is today’s Tabasco, Mexico. It’s said that they were the first people to use cacao as a food and drink.
$1 per drink goes to El Centro Hispano, strengthening the community, building bridges and promoting opportunities for all in the Triangle and Piedmont regions of NC @elcentrohispanonc
Images above (besides the actual Earthset pictures) and set - Lauren Vied Allen @laurenviedallen
Recipe coordination and development - Mellissa Ibarra
THINKING BEHIND
EARTHSET - MARKING 10 YEARS OF CC OWD - SHIFTING PERSPECTIVE THROUGH VISION & STORIES
Our 2026 warm weather menu referred to the Stratosphere, the layer of our atmosphere between 6.2 and 31 miles above the Earth’s surface that protects us from the sun and vacuum of space. We wanted to bring specific attention to the miracle of us even existing on Earth, so fragile and wondrous, and also as a metaphor for ways in which we need to find protection zones within our own lives to find, feel, and create the little miracles of existence.
For a while now, navigating the history of the last years, it feels hard to know which way is up. At a time of weaponized volatility, the 24 hour onslaught of news, never ending ‘heat seeking’ algorithms, polarization, and exponential change driven by AI, feeling anxious, stuck in the mud, reacting to extremes, retreating to your own echo chamber all seem like understandable human responses.
As we developed this wonder menu, we have considered how to find balance, and affirmative footing and continue to leave our little world each day a little better than we find it. Part of the way we’re doing that is to remind ourselves of the roots and foundations that we have worked toward and embedded in our menus, designs, and ongoing actions all these years. It’s CC OWD’s 10th year and we’re using this benchmark to remind us of the vision.
Cocoa Cinnamon, the name, comes as an homage to the intermingling of coffee and spice in early coffee brewing and coffee houses, rooted in story, pluralism, beyond third place, wave, and algorithm. Inspired by the stories that arise from exploring the histories of coffee, cacao, tea, and spice.
Coffee houses have, for hundreds of years, been places of thinking…for us far beyond third place and third wave, expansive, where coffee and flavor are the root and attractor and almost as much the catalyst for tapping into a world beyond ourselves. Cocoa Cinnamon, within this, has always cared about wonder, openness of perspective.
We say that coffee preferences are as diverse as people. And Coffee species and varieties fill us with awe even while we work to keep them from going extinct. They all lead us down paths that we want to be reminded of, like being taken by a song, in awe and wonder by a memory...knowing the feeling and continuing to try to get existence to match awesome beauty that we can feel.
One of Durham’s core characteristics that we have always loved and benefited from at the shops is how on the level people in our community feel and yet when you learn a bit more about them, you could be talking to a nobel prize winner, an inventory saving lives with their new idea….the talent of people in Durham and in the shops feels endless yet the city and people feel down to earth.
This was the case when I noticed and said hello to Christina Koch at CC OND a couple weeks ago. While my brain wanted to share all about the original Heather Gordon CC OND front room floor with her, instead I went back to the POS hardware issue I was working on, wanting to let our guest be in peace like any other; she fit right in like so many humble and exceptionally creative Durhamites who are part of our shops.
And still, having Christina at the shop was a great reminder just at the right time, even purely via presence, of what humans are capable of, what we can be when we are curious, dedicated to science and discourse, and continually inhabiting varied perspectives.
We already lean in the direction of how anyone is capable of doing extraordinary things. We’ll take Koch’s visit and her photograph of the Earth setting from the far side of the moon from this past April (seen above) as the ultimate reminder of awe of the mystery of being on this planet within the vast expanse.
Like a song we get utterly lost in, Earthset reminds us the wonder of the Earth, and how between the beauty and the daily news, there is such deep dissonance. We hope that our little coffee business brings, via rooted reverberations and fun reminders, the what-we can-see and what-we-will-be a little closer together.
With that all in mind, I’d like to leave you with references that have come up while working on this menu and writing the blog.
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Rick Rubin on believing and creating
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“Everyone has the capability to make great things….you don’t have to wait for permission from someone else…”
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The Power of Expectations https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=hbhwlRRW_3o
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A rat experiment featured in the inaugural episode of NPR's podcast Invisibilia ("How to Become Batman") demonstrates how human expectations can dramatically change another person or creature’s behavior and success outcomes.”
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Douglass’ power 4th of July 1852 speech
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Gloria Steinem on 35 years+ of change
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Coco Gauff creating her own “luck” and probable outcomes via preparation and outlook
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I find inspiration from Coco Gauff…always competing for every point…keeping a stable positive mind frame…her approach, preparation, and outlook creating the conditions for success.
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You can see it watching her any time she plays. Here are some key mental habits that Coco uses:
Little Waves Coffee Roasters
Upcoming Coffees and Events
This fall we’ll be finishing the move into the new Little Waves Roastery and start having some public facing events.
Be sure to be on our newsletter to get invites to the events. We don't yet know to the timing. We'll finish moving in and get setup just right, feel ourselves in the space, then start doing special things to initiate the space with y'all!
Select Upcoming 2027 Little Waves Coffees
Brazil:
Sitio Pico do Boné - Cristiene Martins - Natural Catiguá MG2
Sitio Pico do Boné - Junior Martins- Natural Red Catuaí Vovô
Excited to have these dynamic coffees in house. We have only a limited amount of the Natural Catigua MG2 and a bit more of the Red Catuai Vovo. Supporting producers through the Black Brazilian Producers program is an honor but what makes it even better is the quality brought by the Aparecida Martins family. This is our first time bringing in coffee specifically from Junior Martins. Cristiene’s coffee we have had before and it was a hit!
Nicaragua:
Xenia Calix - Pacamara Natural
Last year we missed out on this beautiful coffee due to quality not hitting their standards so we were overjoyed to hear that this year’s lot was shining! This coffee was one of my favorites in 2024.
Honduras:
Katia Duke - Natural Yellow Gesha
Katia Duke - Natural Yellow Obata
We have been working with Katia Duke for a few years now. She keeps pushing herself to bring in different varieties that will stand out. This year, her Yellow Gesha and Yellow Obata stood out to us. We have limited amounts but I think they will make a fun tasting experience on the pour over bar.
Guatemala:
Atitlán Gesha Washed
Atitlán Gesha Natural
Doña Lucinda Puac Pérez Lot #1
AProCafe is an association in the Lake Atitlán region of Guatemala. We started working with them 3 years agon through our buddy Kevin at Huck Coffee Roasters in Denver. This year they lost one of their leaders in a tragic accident as he was delivering coffee to a mill. We have been impressed with the quality and diversity of offerings this Association produces.
Ethiopia: An array to choose from coming soon!!
Dinkinesh: Ayla Shantawene - Washed
Dinkinesh: Riripa - Natural
Dinkinesh: Guji Hadeso - Washed
Dinkinesh: Illubabor Metu - Washed
Uganda:
Mount Elgon Arabica - The Ladies' Lot Washed A+
Mount Elgon Arabica - Sironko Station Natural Anaerobic Fermentation with PK-1 Yeast
I’m really excited to get these coffees in! We tasted them when I attended AFCA in Ethiopia. This will be our first time working with this group of women, farmers from Uganda as well as with Mountain Harvest Importers. They are a company whose values align with our goals of quality, relationship and impact.
Select Peak Coffees:
We have been working on cultivating a small, rotational offering of some of the higher scoring coffees out there, whether it’s from an auction or coffees from relationships with producers whose coffees are winning coffee competitions. This is a developing program in that as we are scratching the surface we are seeking through a lens of gender and racial equity just as much as top quality.
Lorena Salas – Lot 1 / Bourbon ,Catuai - Natural (Ecuador)
Early this year we were invited to participate as judges for the Best of Ecuador coffees through Qima. We have sourced coffees from Yemen through them and appreciate their values driven approach to working with producers and highlighting origins that are special and need more of a spotlight. This coffee by Lorena Salas was part of the Best of Ecuador and while it didn’t make it to the final round, it still made it to the best of lots. We personally scored it an 89.5! We cannot wait to roast and launch this coffee.
Mauricio Shattah - Red Gesha, Anaerobic Nitrogen Flushed Natural
Our relationship with Maricio Shattah started through Leon as he was taking the Coffee Excellence course online through ZHAW 3 years ago. We got to have dinner with him while we were in Quindio and then cup with him in now a couple of times in Bogotá. His selection of coffees are always rare, small quantities, and processed with the utmost meticulousness. He was a doctor before his producer years and the precision and meticulousness shines through every cup.
Pictured: Areli cupping at Marucio Shattah and Liliana Montoya's lab in Bogotá
Coffea racemosa - Washed (South Africa)
This species made it to our menu out of the Coffea Species and Rare Arabica Presentation and Tasting that Leon has been hosting over the last two years. Read more about it here!
Native to Mozambique and South Africa, Coffea racemosa grows at low altitudes in hot temperatures and long dry seasons and thus has some climate resistance. It has strong pest and disease resistance, namely against coffee leaf miners and nematodes, with a short ripening period and is naturally low in caffeine.
Pictured: One roasted Arabica bean (for scale) in roasted Coffea racemosa.