By Camillo Cretara, The Paper. – Coffee shops have always served as a special third space for lots of people across the United States, but for some groups that hasn’t always been the case. Motorcyclists, for example, have long been stereotyped as hanging out in biker bars or private motor clubs. But in recent years, that has slowly been shifting.
Rust Is Gold is one of a handful of motorcycle cafes in the Southwest, and one of the newest; having opened in 2018. According to owners Thaison Garcia and Steven Maes, they noticed “the common [thing] would be to meet up at the bar with a bunch of friends and then go for a ride.”
Between distracted drivers staring at their phones and what seems like endless potholes, riding motorcycles can be dangerous. Riding at night comes with its own set of additional dangers. Not only is it harder to see ahead of you; but people’s reaction times are drastically reduced, and there are higher risks of running into a drunk driver on the road.
“You mix the two together, alcohol and riding at night, and it gets dangerous,” Garcia says. Their alternative, having coffee and going for a morning or afternoon ride, is significantly safer and healthier. “You can meet up in the morning and go for a nice ride, and then go out throughout the rest of your day and not have to worry about the alcohol kind of consumption.”
Garcia and Maes’s coffee shop isn’t all motorcycles and riding, though. They’ve been roasting all their own fresh coffee beans since they’ve opened. They’ve been getting all their beans from countries like Guatemala, Colombia, Peru and Mexico and have gradually been bumping up the amount of beans they can roast at a time. With coffee roasters like Starbucks, they can roast hundreds of pounds of beans to the bitter black dark roast that lots of people are used to and sometimes love. Rust Is Gold, on the other hand, roasts about 15 or 20 pounds a day and can achieve a smoother medium roast on their beans.
The motorcycle shop and roastery also has plenty of vintage motorcycles strewn about. Behind the shop couch is a beautiful BMW motorcycle, and next to the door was a classic Husqvarna. Behind the dividing wall, though, is some of their other bikes, including one that the shop is fixing up for their “Monster Mash” giveaway in October.
All proceeds for the motorcycle get donated to charity, and they will give away the motorcycle they spent the year restoring and rebuilding to a lucky winner in hopes of getting more people riding. “The idea of giving back has always been super important for us. Even if it’s an event where we might sell two cups of coffee,” said Garcia “We’re going to do it just because it helps support that community at large.”
Rust Is Gold is located at 3732 Eubank Blvd. NE from 7:30 a.m. to 5 p.m. Monday to Friday and 8 a.m. to 5 p.m. Saturday and Sunday. You can learn more about Rust Is Gold and their events at rustisgoldcoffee.com.