fikawithfiona: onyx coffee lab

After departing Tulsa we traveled across eastern Oklahoma to spend several days in the Bentonville – Rogers (B-R) area of northwestern Arkansas. The B-R area is, of course, home to the world’s largest retailer – Walmart. As exciting as that is, our desire to visit the area emanated from the opportunity to bike the Razorback Greenway and, most importantly, visit the Onyx Coffee Lab. Having said that, there is plenty to do in the area in addition to biking and drinking coffee and tea. More on that at the end of the post.

Onyx Coffee Lab was founded in 2012 by husband and wife team Andrea and Jon Allen. In the relatively short period of time since founding Onyx they have achieved a world class reputation in the specialty coffee business (with good reason).

The cafe

As we entered the building for our first visit we were stunned – the space is gorgeous. The size and scale is beyond anything we had ever experienced in regard to specialty coffee.

In this soaring space, Onyx has captured the ultimate coffee experience including the important transition from caffeine to alcohol. Under this one roof there is the cafe, the roastery, a pastry shop, a cocktail bar and a restaurant as well as meeting and event facilities.

Perhaps it goes without saying,but we will say it -everything we ordered was impeccably presented and delicious.

The roastery

Onyx boasts six roasters at the Rogers HQ location. Many cafe/roasters of necessity have their roastery located in warehouse type facilities away from the cafe. Onyx (with its 30,000 sq ft of space) has placed the roastery out in the open for all to see and enjoy. As you can see in the photograph directly below they have created a bar directly in front of the roastery to allow for viewing the process and interacting with the roasting staff. So cool!

Bentonville Cafe

The Bentonville Cafe is close by the town square and is an aesthetically pleasing cafe in its own right. Despite the large amount of seating it can be difficult to find a seat if you arrive during the morning rush – an amalgamation of locals heading to work and tourists in need of that first hit of magic elixir. Regardless, make it a priority to spend time here if you find yourself in Bentonville for any reason. The local folks are friendly and will chat you up gladly.

Bentonville

In addition to Onyx and the Razorback Greenway (https://www.traillink.com/trail/razorback-regional-greenway/) there are a number of excellent restaurants ( we had an excellent Italian meal at Tavola Trattoria; http://tavolatrattoria.com/) and plenty of shopping (if that is your thing). Below is a gallery of photos from Bentonville.

There are also a number of museums in Bentonville including the spectacular Crystal Bridges Museum of Modern Art (founded and funded by Alice Walton).

Be seeing you!