White Rhino Opens New Cafe Inside Its Oak Cliff Roastery

White Rhino Coffee began its Dallas-area empire with its first shop in 2007.

On Oct. 1, it expanded to its 14th location, a cafe inside the company's Oak Cliff roastery at 1607 Fort Worth Ave. in West Dallas. It parallels Interstate 30 and is just southeast of Henry's Majestic, TEN Ramen and the Trinity Groves hub.

A roastery is the bread and butter of any specialty coffee operation, so the new cafe offers more than the usual, including roastery exclusive and experimental menu items, hands-on coffee classes and tours that showcase the inner workings of the roastery.
The intimate, 900-square-foot cafe was brought together by Forme Design and local artist Caleb Bagby, a DFW-based design firm and local artist.

 "As the heart of White Rhino's Roastery, the new cafe highlights the balance between the scientific and artistic process of how White Rhino sources, tests, and roasts their beans," Sarah Hunter, designer at Forme Design, said. "The design of the space echoes this dichotomy by balancing the hard surfaces of stainless steel and glass with natural woods and burlap."

The two murals done by Bagby liven up the space and bring all of these design elements together.
One mural depicts White Rhino's custom coffee roaster and points out vital pieces of the roaster and how they function throughout the roasting process. Above it is a visual progression of the bean as it is roasted.

The second tells the story of the coffee bean from farm to cup. Each step is broken down into visuals that showcase the complexity of each cup of specialty coffee.

"As always, we're excited to share our craft drinks with customers but now we have made it more approachable by educating coffee enthusiasts to the growing, harvesting, and roasting process that spans the globe, makes up a multi-billion-dollar industry, and involves hundreds of people from different countries and cultures," Chris Parvin, founder of White Rhino Coffee & White Rhino Coffee Foundation, said.
The roastery tours (which can be booked on Eventbrite) begin in November and will offer an expert-led, in-depth tour of the roastery, a coffee demonstration, pastry sampling and a take-home bag of freshly roasted coffee beans.

White Rhino Coffee exclusively sources its specialty-grade beans from innovative regions around the world while staying true to its ethos that emphasizes traceability, direct sourcing from famers and producers and fair compensation. To maximize freshness, all beans are roasted in small batches the roastery, which you'll get to try if you stop by.

Since White Rhino's expansion, it has developed the White Rhino Foundation, dedicated to supporting nonprofit partners in eliminating homelessness and hunger and providing stability for at-risk kids. It plans to frequently host events at the roastery to raise money for the foundation. Event details will be shared on Instagram.

White Rhino Coffee plans to open five more shops by 2025, all of which begin operations out of this roastery and its new cafe.

White Rhino Coffee, 1607 Fort Worth Ave. Monday – Saturday, 7 a.m. – 5 p.m.; closed Sunday.