WEST LOOP — The West Loop’s newest coffee shop is all about caffeine, community and creativity.
Drip Collective, 172 N. Racine Ave., is a cafe, art gallery — and a place for neighbors to hang out, shop and listen to music, said co-founder Francis Almeda. The shop opened Feb. 19.
Like Side Practice Coffee, Almeda’s Ravenswood cafe, Drip Collective aims to showcase the “side practices” and projects of local makers, from chefs to musicians and illustrators. The goal of both cafes is to uplift Chicago creatives and entrepreneurs by hanging their art on the wall, selling their merchandise and hosting regular pop-ups.
Drip Collective’s featured artists and menu items will constantly rotate in the spirit of innovation, Almeda said.
For now, customers can try specialty drinks like an ube latte — a reinvented Side Practice staple — and a “nostalgic” banana milk latte with cinnamon and molasses. There’s also a burnt honey latte made with sesame oil and gochujang, giving subtle heat and nuttiness. But these flavors could change soon, said Ty Banks, Side Practice’s director of coffee and Drip Collective’s co-creator.
A Filipino-owned pizza company called Novel Pizza will also host weekly “labs” Fridays and Saturdays, serving experimental and unique ‘za while its storefront is in the works.
“The idea is to really keep things rotating and fresh and always new,” Almeda said. “The type of coffee you’re going to have this week, you probably won’t get again next week. The art that you see this month will probably be different in a couple of months down the road. It’s always going to be changing and rotating. I just personally think … that’s how businesses will survive; they keep things interesting.”
A graphic designer by trade, Almeda ventured into the world of coffee after taking a negotiation class, he said. He searched “Coffee shops for sale” online and found a space available at what used to be City Coffee, he said.
“I thought I could get my first coffee shop just by practicing my negotiation skills and ended up with the keys to my first shop,” said Almeda, 41.
But Almeda hesitated when the owners of a West Loop building reached out to Almeda about year ago, saying they were fans of Side Practice and asked him if he wanted to expand.
“That’s probably what makes me a bad businessman. I just think of it as a small community and neighborhood shop,” Almeda said. “I didn’t want to do anything to hurt that brand or feeling.”
With Drip Collective, Almeda focused on remaining authentic through expansion. He achieved that alongside Banks, a longtime barista and coffee connoisseur.
Finding Community In Coffee
For Banks, coffee is a creative outlet.
Before working with Almeda, Banks started an itinerant coffee group in 2018 also called Drip Collective, and it’s been a way for people in the coffee community to meet and celebrate their craftmanship through latte art ever since, Banks said.
Banks hosted regular latte competitions called Thursday Throwdowns at cafes around the city, complete with DJs, music and cash prizes.
The Drip Collective group was also a way to foster community and uplift Black and Brown baristas, Banks said. Now, Drip Collective has some of the best baristas in the city because of the community Banks has cultivated, Almeda said .
“Even with Side Practice, when we first started out, we kind of wanted to own the fact that this was opened by a Filipino,” Almeda said. “There’s some Black and Brown people coming into the coffee scene, and we really wanted to own that and showcase that.”
Banks saw the success and potential of the Drip Collective group in 2022 when he and Almeda hosted a pop-up at Side Practice, he said. The duo put together a menu and merchandise for the event, and the line for it went out the door, Banks said.
“Everybody wanted to experience our coffee menu,” said Banks, 30. “I think that was the first time it clicked for me like, ‘Oh, I could probably fully run a cafe.'”
The new West Loop coffee shop is another mark of its impact, he said.
“I feel like with the space that we are building and have built here, I just feel like its organically and authentically us,” Banks said. “It could just be a coffee shop. … But we just incorporated a lot of things that we’re passionate about, like supporting the creative community, bringing in different artists.
“Everything we see within our lifestyle is incorporated within that space.”
Inside Drip Collective is a wall of artwork showing dozens of peace signs made by Justin Rodriguez, a Chicago designer and Almeda’s cousin. Rodriguez has been working on a collection of 5,000 peace signs for several years.
Alongside traditional seating, Drip Collective has indoor bleachers for a more dynamic, communal feel.
There’s also a mural by artist Brian Herrera at the entrance, an abstract piece made with shades of green, Banks’ favorite color. It serves as an ode to Chicago, with tiles to represent the “L” train and airbrushed elements, which Banks said he requested as a tribute to the airbrushed T-shirts he would get at the Bud Billiken Parade growing up.
The mural serves as customers’ first steps into Drip Collective’s “transformative” space, the co-founders said.
“I want to say 90 percent of the people that walk in there say, ‘It’s a vibe in there,'” Almeda said. “I know that’s just a line that you hear often, but when you walk in there, that line really does mean something. … You feel like you’re a part of something.”
Drip Collective is open 7 a.m.-3 p.m. Monday-Friday and 10 a.m.-6 p.m. Saturdays.
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