Exploring Life & Business with Keiona Williamson of Drip Espresso

Today we’d like to introduce you to Keiona Williamson. They and their team shared their story with us below:

It was sometime in September of 2021 that Keiona and Jasmine walked into what was supposed to be Good Vibes Vegan in our hometown Sacramento, California. The dream was a vegan soul food shop that Jas’s mother Jaeda, and step-father Lenny meant to open prior to the Covid-19 pandemic. With lockdowns delaying the Good Vibes grand opening, and then Lenny’s passing due to chronic illness, Jaeda decided to postpone her dream, sublease her space, and sell her equipment. At the same time, Keiona wanted to open a community coffee shop in a different part of town with free Wi-Fi, fresh food options, and a space for people to feel alive. She convinced Jasmine we could find a space, buy Jaeda’s equipment, and be up and running in no time.

Then Jaeda asked: “Do you guys just want to sublease this place instead?” We scrambled our money together, called our shared baby sister Taylor who matched our contributions, and paid Jaeda $5,000 to lease the space. By October 1, 2021, we got the keys to our new shop; DRIP Espresso was born and so was our need to hustle.

Would you say it’s been a smooth road, and if not what are some of the biggest challenges you’ve faced along the way?
Our biggest challenge is capital. We have bootstrapped our business mostly from the ground up. We didn’t start with a big investment, or loan, or tons of saved money. We have fundraised, applied for grants, and given lots of our personal money to get through the awkward phases of starting a business.

Appreciate you sharing that. What should we know about Drip Espresso?
Drip is a local gathering spot known for our award-winning specialty drinks, bomb bites, and good vibes.

One of our best sellers is our Melanated Mocha. It’s espresso brewed into premium chocolate and a dash of cayenne pepper. We make lots of spiced lattes like our Cuff It which is a housemade brown sugar and spice latte or our Golden Hour which is a Tumeric, ginger, and cinnamon latte.

We serve bomb bites like our loaded Avocado Toast made with fresh locally baked salted lemon and rosemary sourdough, avocado, tomato, in-house pickled purple onions, topped with fried garlic and chili oil. Or our strawberry cinnamon roll pop tart.

You can also catch our latest WOMXNKIND Book Club which is a book club for womxn in Sacramento or attend one of our local coffee meet-ups.

What quality or characteristic do you feel is most important to your success?
We love the community of besties or customers we’ve created. When people come to DRIP we try to make it an experience. From our staff to our space, we want your time in DRIP to be the best part of your day.