- Credibility:
ALBANY PARK — Khepri Cafe, a coffee shop opening soon in Albany Park next to the Kedzie Brown Line stop, will feature a slate of healthy food options and a unique CBD-infused cold brew coffee on draft.
Owners Tatum Drewes and Issac Melton have been working on the cafe at 4650 N. Kedzie Ave. since the summer. They expect to open this winter.
“Our space is going to be a grab-and-go coffee house with a conscious intention to help heal your body,” said Drewes.
That philosophy is why Drewes chose to name the cafe after Khepri, the Egyptian god of renewal and creation.
“We’ll have smoothies, salads, breakfast sandwiches and then slowly release menu items throughout the year. And we’re really proud our retail is 100 percent from small businesses in Chicago or Illinois,” she said.
In addition to healthy menu items, Drewes wants the cafe to host community events and be a resource for people to learn about the health benefits of cannabidiol (CBD) and cannabis. The cafe will carry CBD products.
“There’s so much curiosity and so many questions tied to any CBD- or cannabis-related therapies right now, and it can be intimidating for someone,” Drewes said.
Once staff is hired, the owners will train them on the health uses for CBD, cannabis and other items appearing on the menu like spirulina, wheatgrass and ashwagandha.
“It’s very important to us for our staff to be well-trained and understand the intentions that inspired our menu and its health benefits.”
Drewes is also the owner of Higher Healing and Khepri Renewal, two Albany Park-based companies focusing on CBD infused products.
Higher Healing sells a water soluble CBD that will be blended into coffee at the cafe. The coffee will come from local roaster Hexe Coffee Co. at 2000 W. Diversey Pkwy.
While the cafe isn’t open yet, Khepri’s CBD cold brew has been a hit at neighborhood events like Flavors of Albany Park and the Lot Jams summer concert series.
“We always have our CBD cold brew kegs with us at those and it’s built us a really good audience,” Drewes said.
Initially, the spot was just going to be a place to sell products from Higher Healing and Khepri Renewal. But as they began building it out, Drewes and Melton realized that the neighborhood could use a new coffee shop and community area.
“We’re big coffee users and we wanted to make unique space that was a little more independent and not so corporate,” Drewes said.
When it opens, Khepri Cafe’s hours will be 6 a.m.-6 p.m on Monday, Wednesday and Thursday; 6 a.m. to 3 p.m. Friday; 8 a.m. to 2 p.m. Saturday and Sunday. The cafe will be closed Tuesdays to host special events.
For more information about Khepri Cafe visit its website here.
The cafe’s menu can be found below.
Credit: provided 
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