Sip & Sonder

OUR STORY

When attorneys Shanita Nicholas and Amanda-Jane Thomas began embarking on their coffee journey, they felt a disconnect—a lack of coffee shops in their communities and a feeling of being outsiders in the coffee spaces they visited.  Their solution?  Sip & Sonder.

Established in 2017, Sip & Sonder's flagship location is the first specialty coffee house in Inglewood, CA.  With a coffee roaster, creative studio, and multi-purpose event space on site, Sip & Sonder is much more than your ordinary coffee shop—we are a Black woman-owned entrepreneurial and creative hub where coffee, community, and culture connect.  Our mindfully curated coffee and innovative programs and partnerships solidify Sip & Sonder as one of the premier coffee and lifestyle brands in Los Angeles and beyond. 

OUR COFFEE

In the midst of the COVID-19 pandemic, Sip & Sonder was able to pivot and innovate in order to continue engaging with the community and culture from which it was born.  Through our newly established coffee roasting business, we now have the opportunity to send our coffee and vibes to folks across the country.   

Our tagline—For the Community. For the Culture.—is a value we take pretty seriously.  We approach everything we do—from where we source to who we partner with—purposefully and mindfully. And our coffee is no different.

We not only care about the quality of our coffee profile, but also the quality of life of the people involved in making it.  Through direct trade, we know the stories of the people and communities our coffees come from and are able to offer a product that is premium in taste and social responsibility.  As part of this philosophy, we celebrate the inherent seasonality of coffee, and work with our wholesale customers to maintain a consistent desired flavor profile year round.

South Market

South Market is a rich Papua New Guinea Medium Roast coffee, with delicious notes of caramel, orange, and cedar.  Harvested by coffee producers from the Wahgi Valley in the Western Highlands Province, this coffee goes through a careful picking, sorting, fermentation, and drying process before the final hand-sorting occurs.  With the support of Benchmark Coffee Traders, the pickers and farmers are supported with free housing, healthcare, and schooling.

Native Daughter

Native Daughter is our signature cold brew roast—a Light Roast Ethiopian coffee with delicious notes of strawberry, chocolate, and brown sugar. This natural coffee is grown and picked by smallholder farmers throughout the Sidama region and processed at the mill in Damo Village, located in the Bensa Woreda. The exporters of this coffee, Ardent Coffee Export, have given back to the local community by building the Shanta Geneti Elementary School.

OUR MOMENTUM

Sip & Sonder has created a coffee and lifestyle brand that makes people want to be part of the what we like to call the "Sip & Sonder Black Coffee Experience".  Our growth has been both a by-product of and a reason behind the local and national traction we've received.  A few examples include: 

• Featured in 2020 Lexus commercial spotlighting Sip & Sonder
• Featured on the August/September 2020 cover of Barista Magazine
• Featured on Gwenyth Paltrow’s lifestyle website Goop
• Featured in Insecure Season 4 on HBO
• Partnerships with sweetgreen and Nike 

OUR NEED

The demand that we have gotten is necessitating our growth.  With additional fundraising, Sip & Sonder looks forward to broadening its manufacturing capabilities, expanding its physical footprint, and allowing local globalists around the world to have the Sip & Sonder Black Coffee Experience:

Be your authentic selves while sipping and sondering!

THANK YOU!