On Saturday mornings, Naiman Rigby serves chaos and community in a cup
Naiman Rigby is on a mission to democratize luxury goods, making exotic coffees available to everyday Memphians at his weekly pop-up Rigby Roastery. (Brad Vest/Special to The Daily Memphian)
Naiman Rigby easily weaves stories about concerts, vacations, and life as a dad with explanations about luxury coffee beans’ origins, anecdotes about the people who grow them (like a South American farmer who likes a particular brand of cigar) and how he is able to purchase and import directly from producers without the need of distributors or other middlemen.
“Can you taste the chaos?” Rigby, owner of Rigby Roastery, asked, a mischievous glint in his eye as he presented a coffee-based, chocolate-laced, bubbly mocktail. “If you’re drinking a real cocktail, the drunkenness almost makes you forget time, but this is the opposite of that. ... We’re minting the moment.”
The drink is part of a summer mocktail series Rigby, who humbly refers to himself as a barista, is offering at his weekly pop-up coffee shop every Saturday from 9 a.m. to 2:30 p.m. Downtown on Madison Avenue.
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Ellen Chamberlain
Ellen Chamberlain is a global citizen who is happy to call Memphis her forever home. The Michigan native has worked in media for nearly 25 years as a radio broadcaster, journalist and ghostwriter. As The Daily Memphian’s food and restaurant writer, she gives readers inside perspectives of their favorite restaurants and the people behind them, suggestions for the best bites around town and the latest food news from in and around Shelby County.
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