Gina and Brian Milligan's Coffee Folk provides coffee for the people. Their coffee cart officially opened this March and has been gaining traction with Fort Worth locals ever since. They rebuilt a 1974 Coachman Travel Trailer from the axels up, keeping some of the classic lines of the original but expanding the roof and giving it some stylish upgrades. With a pull lever Italian made Ranchillio espresso machine, pour over station, an arsenal of homemade syrups and flavors, baked goods from local bakeries, and breakfast tacos from Fort Worth's own Taco Heads, I could live inside this trailer forever.
You can find the sleek black coffee cart parked in the Meadowbrook neighborhood of Fort Worth, and it stands out as the only place of its kind. Brian and Gina have done an amazing job of turning their little patch of the neighborhood into a hyper local gathering place. "It's nice being 5 minutes away from work," Brian told me as I sipped coffee inside the trailer. "And it's allowed us to meet a lot of people in our neighborhood.""It's made Fort Worth a little smaller," Gina added. "One of the best parts about this is being able to greet our neighbors in the morning." I sat in the trailer and watched as they greeted many of their customers by name, having their drinks started before they even made it to the window. They talked about work, their dogs, things going on in the neighborhood.
I have to admit when I first went to Coffee Folk it was because I liked the set up, but I wasn't expecting much from the coffee. Needless to say I was wrong. It's some of the best coffee you can get in the city. The coffee duo learned a lot about coffee at home, but received some training from Andrea Spella of Spella Cafe in Portland, Oregon. Andrea is something of an OG of the coffee world, and has a really classic Italian style to his shop and coffee. Spella Cafe also started out as a coffee cart, and the Coffee Folk crew fell in love with his coffee while visiting different roasters.
Whenever I go to a new coffee spot I usually order an espresso or cortado to see what their coffee really tastes like. And more often then not, it's nothing to write home about. But when I tasted the cortado at Coffee Folk, sitting outside at the small cafe table, listening to the goings-on of Meadowbrook, savoring the smooth, enchanting espresso, it took me back to my days in Europe, to the little shops and bars on the street, people standing and drinking coffee, no one on laptops working with their earbuds in, just visiting with one another and getting their daily coffee. And I think that's one of the things that makes Coffee Folk special, they've taken the spirit of old world coffee culture, of the neighborhood coffee bar, and added some strong Texas flow. Their attention to quality and love for their community make this a truly unique spot. But don't take my word for it, grab a friend and try it out for yourself.
You can visit Coffee Folk Thursday through Friday 7am to 1pm and Saturday 8am to 3pm at 4147 Meadowbrook Dr, Fort Worth, TX 76103
Keep up with what they're doing on Instagram @coffeefolkcafe or Facebook at Coffee Folk Cafe
