Spenard coffee shop highlights Black leaders

ANCHORAGE, Alaska (KTUU) - A coffee shop in Spenard is celebrating Black History Month by highlighting important people who have changed history.

“Being a Black-owned business it was very important for us to raise awareness,” says Rafael Moore who owns The Drip with his wife. “Because a lot of the figures we will be promoting this month, without the efforts that they put forth we wouldn’t be in a position to be able to do what we’re doing right now.”

Four specialty drinks named after pivotal Black Americans are being featured in February.

The Claudette Colvin is a strawberry-banana and pina colada smoothie; the Mary Church Terrell is a banana and caramel white mocha frappe; the George Washington Carver is a peanut butter mocha and the Benjamin O. Davis Sr. is a blueberry and kiwi Redbull Italian soda.

“These four people actually aren’t the people you would regularly hear about being Dr. King, Malcolm X,” says Moore. “We wanted to make it different because there’s a lot of different African American people who have made great progress over the years that you really don’t hear about.”

The Drip’s social media pages also feature biographies of other prominent African-Americans like inventors and civil rights leaders daily, something Moore says has given him a chance to learn more about history.

The shop, located on 3103 Spenard Road, is open Monday-Friday from 7:00 a.m.-6:00 p.m., Saturday from 9:00 a.m.-5:00 p.m and Sundays from 9:00 a.m.-3:00 p.m.

They are also on delivery platforms including locally-owned Orange Crate.

The Drip opened in May last year during the pandemic, Moore says there have been challenges, but they have a loyal clientele.

Moore says The Drip is always looking for other opportunities to grow the community as well.