Mocha-n-Music

I've written here and on Facebook about Mocha-n-Music, a local coffee shop built on the premise of having a place for local musicians to play and the public can enjoy a good cup of coffee. The owner, who plays bluegrass, has told me that he had the option of playing in bars which he didn't want to do, churches where all bluegrass music wasn't appropriate, or nursing homes. His option became to open a coffee shop where he and others could play bluegrass and opened it up to other music types. Several weeks ago I was here and listened to a classical guitarist while I graded papers. Anywhere else I would have had to pay $30-40 for his concert, but I paid only $3.50 for a chai latte.

Today the owner told me that three churches have birthed at the coffee shop. He won't open for business, but he shows the church leaders how to make gourmet coffee for the people. The church settles up with him someway for the coffee. He doesn't open for lattes, muffins, etc. One church grew from 14 people to almost 400 meeting only on Sunday nights. He had to kick them out when 200 were packing the shop. The second church folded when it no longer met at the coffee shop, and now a third meets every Sunday morning and is growing.

What a neat thing for a businessperson who doesn't want to open on Sunday but also doesn't necessarily want his building to sit idle one day a week.