Let's head over and sample some of the flavor profiles at Cocoa Cinnamon in Durham.

[machine whirring] - One of the things I love about coffee is it's so daily.

It's one of the most daily things on earth.

And you think about in some ways dailiness can beget habit, which is a dulling activity, or a ritual, which is an awakening activity.

[upbeat music] - For me coffee and coffee shops are the representation of creating space for community.

And my point of connection was working at the first coffee shop and seeing how important it was for the community that I grew up in and seeing the impact.

[upbeat music continues] Still can't believe that we won micro roaster of the year.

- The thing that really matters to me about the Roast Magazine micro roaster of the year, the way that you win, it matches our approach.

In the application, they ask you to look at every aspect of your business, whether it's quality, training, sustainability, community, hiring practices, education, all this stuff.

- We are like a predominantly woman-forward raostery.

That it's not very common, and it's like even less common that it's women of color.

And we're all shorties.

[Areli laughing] - You kind of have a miracle in your cup every time you're drinking coffee.

[upbeat music] I am the director of retail operations at Cocoa Cinnamon.

My job is to focus on all the retail aspects.

So hiring and onboarding, training, quality of service, quality of our coffee.

We believe that coffee is supposed to be this really accessible, communal product.

[upbeat music continues] - Coffee has a very long journey.

[Areli laughing] By the time it arrives to us, it has gone through many, many hands.

Our first step when we receive the coffee, it's green.

From green coffee, we have this beautiful roaster that's called Alluring.

It uses this vacuum system that takes the green coffee into the hopper, and there's a drum inside of the roaster that's doing this little circulation.

And then it's going from green coffee to then a yellow, to then a brown, to then a darker brown, to then first crack kind of like popcorn.

[machine whirring] These beautiful like little smoke plumes come out and the roasted coffee falls into the cooling tray.

- [Leon] You're kind of taking it on a ride.

And how you micro tweak that ride is the science and the art of it.

Areli and the roasters have all these data points, and then you do all of this QC on the cupping table to kind of find that sweet spot that you're always searching for.

- And so the roasting process allows us to be able to coax those beautiful flavors out.

[upbeat music continues] Durham is a very special place.

- [Mariah] It's a lot about the neighborhoods and the communities that we're hoping to serve.

- [Leon] When we think about all this beautiful diversity within our community... - [Mariah] In hiring, if our staff reflects our city, that's a great indicator for accessibility.

[upbeat music continues] - Obviously we love coffee, otherwise we wouldn't have opened a coffee shop and a roastery, and devoted literally most of our marriage to it.

[Areli laughing] [upbeat music] - I think the drink itself, there's like a ineffable pleasure about it and like a curiosity that brings about an openness from a person.

As soon as you sit and have coffee, there's like an openness between people.

[upbeat music continues] - Coffee is a world.

It's both simple and complex, right?

It's about reconnecting with the fact that this is a really ancient plant that has been around for literally thousands of years.

And at its base is a black and brown product, grown, and harvested, and cultivated by indigenous groups.

[upbeat music fades out] - [Deborah] Cocoa Cinnamon is at 420 West Gear Street in Durham, and they're open daily.

For more information, go to littlewavescoffee.com.