The shop began as an outpost of Ninth Street Espresso in the Classic Stage Company lobby on East 13th Street. Sam Penix and an investor bought it in 2009. In 2013 Penix was the owner and Sam Lewontin the manager, and the bar had served about 1.2 million coffees over six years. Black & White, out of North Carolina, roasts the coffee.
The room is a ground-floor corner behind black-framed windows, with white-painted brick walls and a bare concrete floor. A window counter runs along the glass, and the double door opens onto the 13th Street sidewalk.
