Sound Bites: Comeback looks forward with buzzy coffee soda business
Comeback Coffee owners Amy and Hayes McPherson, pictured also launched a line for Memphis sparkling waters. (Mark Weber/The Daily Memphian file)
Six months after closing their Pinch District cafe, Hayes and Amy McPherson sat down with me on “Sound Bites” to talk about the next era of Comeback.
That includes a new flavor of coffee soda that they announce on the podcast, launching soon.
The couple has grown the coffee bean-roasting and beverage canning side of the Comeback business into a thriving enterprise, with products available at 250 locations nationwide.
But, what even is coffee soda? What does it taste like? How much caffeine is in it? And, do people want to drink that?
When I asked my Facebook friends what they wanted to know about Comeback, several asked about Greenhaus, the adjacent plant shop that the Comeback team ran from 2023 to early 2025.
The couple answers all these questions and more in this week’s episode. There’s even good news for Greenhaus fans who loved the shop’s vibe and fragrance.
The McPhersons shared how they met, how the business has pivoted and how they got into coffee soda.
“Everybody wanted (coffee soda) in cans, like across the nation,” Hayes said. “We went from literally making it in our kitchen to now brewing thousands of cans a week in our own facility.”
They chose to stay in the space adjacent to the former Comeback Coffee location (which is now available for private event rentals) and build out their own canning facility.
“There’s not many places in Memphis — or even in the South — that have the capability to brew things outside of beer,” Hayes said. “So we built it ourselves.”
We talked about their partnerships with local restaurants and cafes, including Cxffeblack, Barksdale, Jojo’s Espresso and Byway Coffee truck. We talked about how the roasting scene has grown in the last decade in Memphis.
We also discussed a heartfelt post Amy had shared on social media a few weeks ago: “Our hearts have never been more full than to see so many shops succeed and grow while using our roast and beverages.”
Listen to the full episode below.
Subscribe on Apple Podcasts and Spotify.
Topics
Comeback Coffee Sound Bites Hayes and Amy McPhersonHolly Whitfield
Holly has more than 13 years of experience in publishing and digital content, including 10 years at the helm of the I Love Memphis Blog. She began her career at The Commercial Appeal and is author of Secret Memphis.
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