New KC-area coffee shop, offering some of the ‘world’s best’ brew, is now open
A dark horse, for those unfamiliar with the phrase, is an unexpected competitor who pulls ahead and wins the race. It’s also the name of the Kansas City area’s newest coffee shop, in a Blue Springs strip center.
Abbey Hansen and her sister, Holly Holcomb, recently opened Dark Horse at 1702 SW Route 7. Like the idiom, their coffee shop hopes to bring surprising offerings to the coffee scene.
“The goal was to serve exceptional coffee in a way that our creativity could also bring some fun ideas into play,” Hansen said.
They aim to offer products that push customers’ expectations. Some of the items that break the norm: a cherry Cola float (Coca-Cola topped with espresso and house cherry cold foam, served over ice), the spring stallion (a seasonal cold brew with housemade tamarind brown sugar syrup, topped with toasted coconut cold foam and toasted coconut), and a shakerato (double shot of espresso shaken with cream, house syrup and served on ice).
“A lot of people don’t understand what people can do or coffee can be,” Hansen said.
The shop’s signature drink shares its name with the coffee shop and is a brown sugar, honey and salt latte.
Onyx Coffee is the main roaster for Dark Horse. The Arkansas-based coffee shop and roaster recently made a mark as the first coffee shop to become a finalist for the prestigious James Beard Awards. It was also named the best coffee shop in the world by industry ranking system The World’s 100 Best Coffee Shops.
The only other coffee shop that serves Onyx is Odyssey Coffee in Overland Park.
While Onyx will be the main roaster, it will be supplemented by a few others, like Archetype in Omaha and Metric in Chingu. Pastries from Bloom Baking Co. are also available.
“I love coffee because it’s so vast and diverse. There’s so many different things you can do with it,” she said.
Hansen and her sister began their venture during a season of transition for the pair. Holcomb had lost her spouse, and Hansen had just lost her job. Hansen had long dreamed of opening a coffee shop and decided now was the time.
The two bring vastly different skillsets to the table — Hansen’s experience in coffee and Holcomb’s bookkeeping — but that’s a bonus in their minds.
“Together we make a really great team,” Hansen said.
In the days since opening, Hansen said they’ve been far busier than she could’ve dreamed. Pastries are flying out of the case, and baristas are putting in tireless efforts to put out orders in a timely manner.
Blue Springs supports Blue Springs.
“The response from the community has been way more than I’ve ever expected,” she said.
Dark Horse is open from 6 a.m. to 2 p.m. Mondays through Fridays, and 7 a.m. to 3 p.m. Saturdays.