
- #Bentonville onyx coffee lab how to#
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- #Bentonville onyx coffee lab pro#
#Bentonville onyx coffee lab pro#
After a batch of coffee is dropped from the brand new, custom-painted Diedrich CR-70 roaster-one of the staggering six roasters in the facility that includes two Stonghold S7 Pro sample roasters and two S9 roasters dedicated solely to cold brew profiles-the beans are transported via the aforementioned Willy Wonka tubes to Onyx’s other new toy, the Sōvda Pearl Mini color sorter.

#Bentonville onyx coffee lab full#
Everything from sample roasting to bagging is on full display, even the daily QC cuppings, though these are normally performed in the open-air upstairs walkways sitting above the coffee bar.Īnd the roasting operation puts on a bit of a show for any interested onlooker. Not simply just a nitro cold brew or some such single beverage, Onyx offers customers the option to nitrogenate any drink on the spot (using the same system from Dylan Siemens’ Finals run at the 2019 US Barista Championship).Ĭontinuing to draw inspiration from the restaurant world, the roasting facility behind the coffee bar is completely open concept at every step of the process (sans green coffee storage). With a single Modbar steam module, the final touches are added to each drink, including any sugar requested by the customer and even gently steamed cream to match the temperature of the beverage.Ĭontinuing the innovation, one new feature to the Onyx menu is nitro. There, the most tenured Onyx barista acts as expeditor, QCing and finishing all drinks to ensure quality. A Mahlkönig EK43S and two Nuova Simonelli Mythos II grinders have all been moved to custom insets in the back bar, along with all batch brew from the 3Temp system.Īesthetically thoughtful as the bar is, the coolest feature is around the corner, at the finishing station. Adorned in slatted light wood and white marble, the floating coffee bar keeps things clean and minimalist with Modbar espresso, steam wand, and pour-over modules. The progressive standalone coffee station is the unmissable nucleus of the entire building. Three-plus years later, that dream has come to fruition.Īlong with other ventures backed by the Allens-including The Foreman, an upstairs cocktail bar run by former Onyx Head of R&D Brendon Glidden, and Doughp (pronounced “dope”), the French-inspired pastry shop churning out buttery deliciousness for all Onyx locations-The 1907 is also home to Heirloom, a 20-person, seasonally-inspired prix fixe restaurant by chef/co-owner Jason Paul as well as the soon-to-open new outpost for Yeyo’s, a mezcaleria and taqueria from chef/farmer Rafael Rios.Īt the center of all this, both conceptually and literally, is coffee. When the Dollar Saver shuttered in 2015, Onyx jumped on the opportunity to develop a space to “showcase all the aspects of the coffee industry… under one roof, from roasting, cupping, baristas, bakers, coffee baggers, etc,” as Jon Allen describes. The 110-year-old building that now houses The 1907-named in reference to the year it was built-was originally a Rogers Wholesale Grocer before becoming a Dollar Saver variety store in the ‘70s faded whispers of that past life still appear scribbled across a green backdrop at the top of the historic structure’s red-brick exterior. And yes, there are Willy Wonka coffee tubes only one slide though.

#Bentonville onyx coffee lab how to#
What sort of wonders would they employ? Would there be Willy Wonka-esque tubes overhead shooting coffee around all nimbly bimbly? What about slides? Will they have those, y’know, just because? Their answer to how to out-Onyx themselves is The 1907, a three-story, 30,000-square-foot cafe/roasting lab/headquarters/shared space in downtown Rogers, where owners Andrea and Jon Allen-along with a few of their fellow NWA maker friends-house a variety of ventures both in- and outside of coffee. So when it was announced that Onyx would be opening a new headquarters, the question was not if they would try to clear the high bar they set for themselves, but how. When they open a new cafe-as with their Bentonville lab a few years back, featured here on Sprudge-it exists somewhere in the realm between fantastical and extravagant. When they compete at the US Coffee Championships, they are after the big trophies to date, they have two national titles and too many finals appearances to count (across all five competitions), including a staggering total of five from the 2019 season alone. Northwest Arkansas’s Onyx Coffee Lab doesn’t operate in half measures.
