There’s a new brew in town!
In a city as rooted in legacy as Washington, D.C., three Black creatives are reshaping what it means to savor coffee with care, intention, and unapologetic cultural expression. Enter tāst, pronounced “taste,” a specialty coffee brand designed to disrupt, created by artist and designer Reggie Black, photographer Obiekwe Okolo, and New York Times bestselling author Jason Reynolds. Together, they’re not just brewing coffee—they’re building a movement, Sprudge reports.
Launched this past January, kicking off Black History Month, tāst is already being recognized as a different kind of brew for coffee lovers. Their approach is bold, design-driven, and grounded in a commitment to community. As Reynolds explains, tāst is here “to put some paint where it ain’t.”
The brand is challenging the norms of the specialty coffee world, offering an online, direct-to-consumer coffee that thrives on creativity and non-traditional narratives.. For these three founders, coffee isn’t just a drink—it’s a design challenge, a cultural artifact, and a tool for connection.
“Taking people on a journey around the world through a bag of the best coffee in the world,” is how Black, who leads coffee sourcing, describes their mission.
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Their first offerings include single-origin selections from Peru, Guatemala, Ethiopia, and Colombia—each available in 250g bags priced between $20 and $26. Available via one-time purchase or subscription, their Volume 1 menu is as accessible as it is intentional.
Okolo, the brand’s visual architect, calls the packaging “translucent sculptures intended to adorn kitchen countertops.” He adds, “We want to invite coffee lovers to return to ritual, consume slowly, and savor everything.” The packaging echoes tāst’s ethos: “tāst more, drink less.”
The trio aims to make the brand a household name and something customers want to own and share with their circles.
“You can find a lot of high-quality coffee,” Black points out, “but its presentation—cafe interiors, menus, tasting notes—can be so far over some people’s heads that they don’t feel welcome or want to try.” He adds, “We want to acknowledge coffee as the nucleus of community and the common denominator of its connection.”
Their vision of community includes “coffee for all,” a guiding principle that they place at the center of the company.
“We believe that coffee is for everybody, but we’re presenting it, unapologetically, through a Black lens,” Reynolds explains. That lens is shaped by their experiences as Black artists and cultural workers in “DC, DC”—a nod to the D.C. natives know and not the Washington sometimes displayed in larger conversations.
At the heart of tāst is one value: care. “We start from a place of believing that coffee exists on every corner of the planet and in every room where care is provided. That’s amazing to consider!” says Reynolds. “For us, coffee isn’t just a noun, it’s a verb. ‘Coffeeing’ means to care honestly, loudly, and openly. When you see two Black men on the street giving each other dap, that’s ‘coffeeing’. When you tell your daughter you love her, that’s ‘coffeeing’.”
Their chosen brand color, pink, is a purposeful nod to that care. According to colorpsychology.org, pink evokes love, tenderness, and compassion. That emotion radiates throughout tāst—from sourcing to storytelling, from design to delivery. It’s not just about what’s in the bag, but what the brand believes: that care is the true differentiator in a saturated market.
Future plans are already brewing. The trio envisions tāst becoming a vital voice in specialty coffee, entering retail and wholesale partnerships, and eventually opening a physical café that reflects their unique identities. “I would love to [open a cafe],” says Black. “And actualize Jay’s love for furniture, Obi’s love for design, and my desire to rewrite the narrative of a Black-owned coffee shop. It would be an honor to open a space where we could pour all of our love into our guests.”
Until then, the online store is open, the coffee is flowing, and the invitation stands: taste more, drink less, and be part of a story that’s bigger than coffee.
Welcome to their first tāst.
Visit tastcoffee.com and follow them on Instagram to try the new coffee and join the community!
Cover photo: Meet the Black Creatives Behind Tāst Coffee, D.C.’s Bold New Force in Specialty Coffee/(l to r) Tāst Coffee Co-Founders Jason Reynols, Obiekwe Okolo, & Reggie Black/Photo credit: Jared Soares/Sprudge