The coffeehouse is becoming more and more a stable for our society. A place to meet, gather, and sometimes work as most of us are mobile these days. We want to spend the next few weeks discovering our local coffeehouses and what makes each of them unique. Today, we start with The Well Coffeehouse which recently relocated to Brentwood in the Seven Springs development.
WS: Tell us why you chose to move to Brentwood after opening in Green Hills?
Well: We lost our lease on our original store in Green Hills when plans were announced for a 16 story high rise that was to be built on our site. As we began to look for places to relocate, two wonderful options came available. The first one was the one we relocated to in Green Hills on Granny White Pike. During that search, we were approached by the developers of Seven Springs who desired for one of the retail spaces to be a coffeehouse. We considered this a tremendous opportunity and after much prayer, consultation, and discernment decided to step out on faith and take it. We feel this is a wonderful location and situated in a perfect part of town. We love the visibility and accessibilty of this location.
WS: What made you and Chris want to open Well Coffeehouse?
Well: We had a desire to create a space for community. This went beyond just a social purpose. It was a desire rooted in faith. I actually wrote the vision for The Well in a graduate level Missional Living class at Lipscomb University. In this class we were focusing on mission and community. I wanted to create a space where we could bring those two things together. This is where the vision came for a coffeehouse that would seek to love people in two very specific ways. First, to love our customers by serving them a great product and treating them with kindness and respect and then second, to invite those same customers into a bigger story. That story is one which calls us to serve those who are in need and to act compassionately. We do this by taking the profits made on coffee and coffee related products and using them to build clean water wells for people around the world who are in desperate need. We chose clean water because it was a tangible way to put our faith into action and to allow our customers to participate. 6,000 people around the world die every day from water borne illnesses or from a lack of clean water. By funding clean water wells we are providing a basic necessity that is helping to save lives.
WS: What inspired the name, The Well Coffeehouse?
Well: The name reflects the two-fold vision I described above that begins with our faith and continues with action. There is a story in the bible in John 4 where Jesus interacts with a woman at a well. The well was a natural gathering place where people could find life and interact. This particular woman had many things going against her including a very troubled past and was of a different race and religion that Jesus. But Jesus broke down all barriers by reaching out to her to offer her life. And that woman left and told others about Jesus. That’s the kind of space we wanted to create where everyone is welcomed, loved, and included just like the woman in the story. We want them to discover Jesus through faith in action. Our goal isn’t to be a “Christian” coffeehouse but a coffeehouse that practices Christianity. That may sound like a subtle difference but our goal isn’t to simply create a gathering space for Christians but a place where anyone and everyone can gather in community. Our hope is that Christ will be discovered within that community rather than forced upon people. We don’t overtly put Christian wording all over the place in our stores but instead show what faith looks like in action by displaying pictures of wells that have been built. This is intentional. We’d rather our customers ask, “Why do you give your profits away?” And when they do, we love to tell them. This allows us to talk about faith naturally rather than with religious sounding language that often times alienates people. And it allows us to invite them into that mission. Like the Samaritan woman in the Bible, we want them to leave our store wanting to tell others about what they’ve discovered.
WS: What charities do you support?
Well: We are a 501(c)3 nonprofit and we fund the building of wells through different organizations such as Living Water Project and Blood:Water Mission. We also give profits toward other impoverished people that we have directly visited in other countries where we have some direct connections. For example, we purchased and delivered a washer and dryer for an extremely poor infirmary in Morant Bay, Jamaica. We had been there and seen these people and spent much time with them over the years through an annual mission trip that some of our board members had taken to serve there. We also help fight poverty by selling handmade products (like bags, scarves, bracelets) in our stores that are made by people on the streets of placed like Haiti, India, Honduras, Vietnam and more. The sale of these items goes directly to these people and on many of the products you can see the name and picture of the person who made it.
WS: If you were a customer in your coffeehouse, what drink would you order?
Well: My favorite is our Ethiopian Harrar pour over and when I prefer a latte I love our Fireside Latte and Caramel Whip.
WS: In a few words, how would you describe Well Coffeehouse?
Well: As one of our motto’s expresses, “Love. Coffee. The perfect blend.” I think that pretty wells sums up who we are and what we do.
Thanks so much to Rob and Chris, co-owners of The Well Coffeehouse, for taking time out to answer our questions. You can find out more about The Well Coffeehouse on their Facebook page, here.
