Despertar Negro

Bartholomew Jones and Renata Henderson, a husband and wife team, founded Cxffeeblack in Memphis in 2019 with a mission to return coffee to its African roots and build equity across the supply chain. Henderson serves as head roaster, a role held in honor of Ethiopian women being the first roasters and baristas in coffee history. The company created what it describes as an entirely all Black coffee supply chain from Ethiopia to Memphis, working directly with Black owned exporting companies in the Guji zone of Ethiopia's Oromia region, Rwanda, and Colombia. Their Anti Gentrification Coffee Club opened in March 2021 in Highland Heights, and a larger roasting headquarters on Bowen Avenue launched in late 2024. Cxffeeblack won the Sprudgie Award for Best Film in Coffee in 2023, was named Global Notable Roaster of the Year in 2024, and received the Coffee Coalition for Racial Equity's inaugural Innovator of the Year award the same year.