New coffee shop puts community relationships at the heart of its business

WICHITA FALLS (KFDX/KJTL) — A new coffee shop right across from Midwestern State is bringing a new flavor of the beloved drink.

Collective Coffee and Community puts their emphasis on both of those words.

From foreign coffee to fresh-baked cookies, this shop has many amenities that keep customers coming back. But a heart to serve the community is at the root of their business model.

To most people, making your morning cup of joe is simple. Take some coffee, put it in the machine, and there ya go. But for Mason Wilson, he spent a year in China to see how the process starts from the plant to the coffee shop.

“Actually taking a coffee cherry off the tree and harvesting that and processing it, doing the whole thing and then being able to taste that same cup of coffee that i helped transition from the crop to the cup,” Wilson said.

After spending a few years as a mobile cart, Wilson, along with co-owners Patrick Kemp and Darion Ryan Roberts, brought Collective Coffee + Community to its new home in March.

Coffee from Colombia, Kenya and Ethiopia are just some of the drinks that the shop has to offer. Along with trivia nights, pop up food trucks and live entertainment.

“We all kind of have this same mentality of it not just being a business to make money. We also want it to be a place where people can gather and create community,” Roberts said.

While collective serves traditional espressos and lattes that coffee enthusiasts love, Wilson says he wants the taste of the coffee to shine through and show that collective really is for the community. And that all starts with a great staff.

“Super great heart for people, they want to serve and be very hospitable to guests. They wanna learn coffee.
Just honestly being able to work alongside them and have people beside me has been a really big blessing,” Wilson said.

“Kind of a neighborhood coffee shop too. Different neighborhoods are in walking distance. It just kind of all came together. We’ve been having so much fun with it. It’s been a lot of work but we’re enjoying it,” Roberts said.

Serving the community one cup at a time with a lot of roasts and a lot of love.

Check out the Collective Coffee website for more.