Journey Church opens Go Make Coffee Co. in former MoJoe's location

Jill Doss-Raines, The Dispatch
Updated ·4 min read
Barista Ashley Morris pours cold water in the Yama Cold Brew Tower at the newly opened Go Make Coffee Co. in Welcome. Journey Church has opened the nonprofit coffee shop to provide quality coffee and give back to the community. The coffee shop plans to purchase two more, larger Yama towers, which take about three hours to make the cold brew espresso concentrate.

WELCOME — Thousands of Davidson County residents start their morning with a cup of coffee. Now, a Lexington church is offering a way for those coffee fiends to feel good about their purchase of each cup of Joe knowing it is helping their community.

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Journey Church has opened Go Make Coffee Co. in Welcome in the former MoJoe Coffee House location at 6282 Old U.S. Highway 52. Their goal is helping the community one cup of quality coffee at a time, said Matt Leonard, one of the church's pastor the person charged with getting the coffee shop up and running.

"We were approached with this location and asked if we would like to start a coffee shop," he said. It was a gracious gift from Momentum Church."

Momentum Church operated MoJoe Coffee House at the location from September 2016 to May 2022. It reopened for a brief time in 2022 as a reorganized nonprofit offering coffee and snoballs.

Baristas at the newly opened Go Make Coffee Co. in Welcome at the former MoJoe Coffee House wait on customers during the shop's soft opening on Saturday.
Baristas at the newly opened Go Make Coffee Co. in Welcome at the former MoJoe Coffee House wait on customers during the shop's soft opening on Saturday.

"Everything, once we pay for supplies and pay the employees, will go back into our community," Leonard said. "We want to do things like feed children and support the needs of this community."

They've already started giving back to the community after just holding a soft opening on Saturday. A portion of the profits from Saturday's sales were given to the athletic department at North Davidson High School, which is located about one mile from the coffee shop.

"I would emphasize that when you buy coffee here, it's not just a part of your morning routine, you are giving back to the community," he said.

Coffee consultant Landon Hilliard makes coffee drinks for customers at Go Make Coffee Co. on its soft opening on Saturday.
Coffee consultant Landon Hilliard makes coffee drinks for customers at Go Make Coffee Co. on its soft opening on Saturday.

Don't think that quality will suffer under this nonprofit model, however, said Landon Hilliard, the coffee consultant. The small shop has hired and trained five baristas. Foster Hobbs of High Point is roasting the shop's coffee beans.

In addition, Go Make Coffee Co. is using a unique, Japanese method to make a highly concentrated espresso cold brew using a Yama Cold Brew Tower.

The tower has three glass globes stacked one on top of the other. Grown coffee goes in the center glass globe and a filter is placed over it. Cold water is poured into the top glass globe and it drips over a three-hour period over the ground coffee ending with a concentrated espresso in the bottom globe.

The concentrate, Hilliard said, is used to make intensely, flavored coffee drinks.

"It allows for more flavor that you don't get with an emersion cold brew," he said.

Cold water drips from the top glass globe over the ground coffee in the center glass globe into the bottom third globe of the Yama Cold Brew Tower at Go Make Coffee Co. as barista Michelle Keefaw makes coffee drinks for customers.
Cold water drips from the top glass globe over the ground coffee in the center glass globe into the bottom third globe of the Yama Cold Brew Tower at Go Make Coffee Co. as barista Michelle Keefaw makes coffee drinks for customers.

Also, Go Make Coffee Co. offers chai and teas made from Chad's Chai of Winston-Salem and also offers two flavors of fruit smoothies — strawberry and strawberry/banana. They will add sweet rolls and small pastries soon from a local commercial kitchen.

The flavors of hot and cold coffee drinks, lattes and espressos are almost limitless. One of the signature coffee drinks offered is called The Welcome. It features a shaken cold brew with rosemary syrup and a hint of citrus.

In addition to buying coffee one cup at a time, customers can also buy 12-ounce bags of coffee to take home. The church spent a couple of weeks totally renovating the coffee shop.

The name of the coffee shop sprung from Journey Church's mission. The mission of Journey Church is to "Go... Make... Baptize... Teach. "We see this coffee shop as an extension of what Jesus has called us to do," the church leaders posted on the shop's Facebook page, which is still currently found with a search of MoJoe Coffee House

"This coffee shop has created employment for our community and will help promote our mission to help our community," said Pastor Mark Rachels.

The church opened a food truck in 2022 called Loaves and Fishes, which it uses to feed those in need.

Go Make Coffee Co. opened in Welcome on Saturday at the former MoJoe Coffee House on Old US Highway 52.
Go Make Coffee Co. opened in Welcome on Saturday at the former MoJoe Coffee House on Old US Highway 52.

Patio seating is available outside as well as seating inside. In the near future, church leaders plan to make the room above the coffee shop available to the community for holding meetings.

Go Make Coffee Co. will be open from 6:30 a.m.- 5:30 p.m. Monday to Friday and 8 a.m-2 p.m. on Saturdays.

Jill Doss-Raines is The Dispatch trending topics and personality profiles senior reporter and is always looking for tips about businesses and entertainment events, secret and new menu items and interesting people in Davidson County. Contact me at jill.doss-raines@the-dispatch.com.

This article originally appeared on The Dispatch: Journey Church opens Go Make Coffee Co. in former MoJoe's location