In just a little over a year, Trade and Lore owner Lindsey Pittman went from soft-opening her first coffeeshop in Asheville, North Carolina to launching a sister location in Charlotte. Business took off for one big reason: Her inventive specialty coffee drinks rip a page right outta the craft cocktail handbook. Pictured above is the Local Buzz, a Geisha cascara purée made of coffee cherry husks from Onyx Coffee Lab, saigon (a spicy-sweet variety of cinnamon), and sage honey from Asheville Bee Charmer. Her flu-fighting Elderberry Wand combines elderberry, lemon, local raw honey, clove, cinnamon, ginger, and espresso in a glass rimmed with local bee pollen (the most Asheville thing ever). She even makes matcha lattes with mint and cranberry. The combinations are weird and wonderful, and customers come back again and again just to see what she’s dreamt up.

This isn’t Pittman’s first rodeo. In addition to being a key partner at Hyde Brewing, the rock star barista ran Charlotte’s popular Daily Press pop-up until it evolved into Trade and Lore. No time to hang out? Pick up a bag of Colombian beans from small-batch roaster Mountain Air and do your worst at home.

37 Wall St., Asheville, NC; 828-424-7291.
3306 N. Davidson St., Charlotte, NC; no phone.