It’s no secret that music and food is one of the ultimate combinations. That’s why I started my Dinner & A Vinyl series. Of course, that combination is not solely limited to food, but also devilishly delicious beverages. So when my friends in Trainwrecked told me about Black Forge Coffee a few months back, I knew I had to check it out.
Creating A Heavy Metal Coffee Experience
Started in 2015 by owner Ashley Corts, this heavy metal, woman owned business is helping build up her communities in the Pittsburgh/Allentown and McKees Rocks areas in the most metal way possible. Black Forge Coffee is providing a creative and safe space for people from all walks of life, metalheads included.
“The variety of people that we get in here always varies from the average metalhead to a business person, to a lawyer. We have lawyers who come in here all the time and have meetings with clients. The mayor comes in here everyday. So it’s just a very special group of people.” Ashley says.
It’s easy to see why Black Forge Coffee has attracted such a wide clientele based on my first hand experience at the McKees Rocks location. Inspired by the Beehive, a punk coffee shop in Pittsburgh, Black Forge exudes heavy metal at every turn. Upon entering, there’s a sense of calm. But there’s also a mysterious allure present thanks to its dark decor. And the two combined makes for a welcoming experience that almost feels shut off to the outside world. An escape, if you will, especially for the darkly inclined.
“I just love keeping things fun and interesting, because metal doesn’t have to be so angry and scary. I mean, that’s why I put big Baphomets on the front door, because I want people to be intrigued to come in. ‘Why is this Satan place here in McKees Rocks?’ People come in and they’re like, ‘Are you guys satanists?’ And I’m just like does it matter? You’re in here. You should just get a coffee. And tell me if our satan coffee is good,” she laughs.
And oh, is their satan coffee good. Delicious, actually. “The drinks are named after songs or tortured ways,” Ashely adds, explaining how the menu changes every quarter. My personal favorite? The “Blood Eagle” served hot. It’s a chocolate, cherry flavored latte that I couldn’t help but order two of at Heavy Metal Weekend. It’s just that good. And if you’re not into coffee, Black Forge also has tea as well as alternative water brands like Liquid Death.
More Than Your Average Coffee Destination
Black Forge Coffee is much more than your standard coffee shop. The Pittsburgh/Allentown location also serves as an art gallery and small event space. In addition to that, the location also holds different art shows every month featuring different local artists. The McKees Rocks location, however, serves as a music venue straight out of a coffee lovin’ metalhead’s dreams, as well as a roastery.
Like many small businesses, Black Forge Coffee has faced their fair share of obstacles over the years, especially when Covid hit. But Ashley’s persistence and focus on her overall mission led to making lemonade out of lemons with some help from the community. Making Black Forge Coffee’s story all the more inspiring.
Black Forge Coffee: Growing A Small Business
While attending The Art Institute of Pittsburgh for her film making degree, Ashely started working as a barista in a couple of local coffee shops in the morning, while also lighting shows for local music venues at night. Eventually she became a lighting designer for some of Pittsburgh’s most beloved venues, including Altar Bar, The Rex, and Carnegie Music Hall. After 10 years of eventually managing a couple of coffee shops and her continued time in the music industry, Ashley decided it was time to start her own venture.
“When we first started we were open in the Allentown store for like 2 and half years until we hit the wall of our landlord kind of being [like]- because we rent that space- ‘hey people are moving in upstairs and they’re not cool with the music, like you kind of got to figure it out.’‘ After housing shows for bands like Full of Hell and Wormrot at the first location, Ashley wasn’t ready to give up on the music venue and knew another location would be necessary. In just 30 days, the business was able to raise $36,000 from a kickstarter campaign to help fund expenses, such as a down payment for the building in McKees Rocks.
But shortly after opening the 2nd location in July of 2019, the Covid-19 pandemic hit, providing yet another hurdle.
“So we were having shows, doing things, things were great. And then shit just got shut down, and I’m like how am I supposed to pay a mortgage for this building? So what I did was, I had a handful of employees. I just tucked them all into Allentown and then I worked here [McKees Rocks] full time. Just 6am til 8pm, [I] just sat here and served the 5 customers that I had that day and worked for free and tried to figure it out. I slept here for a while and I did everything I could to make sure I didn’t lose this building.”
And after a contractor who was hired to work on the location failed to provide the services rendered, Ashley hired friends to help finish the work, in addition to people in the community donating their time, even driving in from her home state of NY to help in any way they could.
The Black Forge Coffee Pop Up Tour
“We didn’t know how we were going to make up for our sales. So I took the time to do online sales and do a website because we weren’t selling stuff online really yet. So I took the time doing that, and I was like this is helping but people are afraid to leave their homes and stuff you know? What can I do to bring coffee to the people physically?” And with that in mind, Ashley came up with a solution: a cross country coffee van tour that would pop up at businesses, conventions, events, and shows to not only sell their coffee, but spread the word.
“It first originally started back in 2020 where I started this SOS mission. So what I did was I created a coffee bag called ‘SOS’ and I sold that on the road and donated 20% of the profits to the place that I popped up at. So it was just to help them out, help me out, and then get the word out there that people are trying to help each other. And I had really great success with it and I continue to do it into this year as well,” Ashley says. She’s now limited to strictly conventions since the shops are getting busier again, and she’s needed on site. But Ashley still travels for Black Forge Coffee as much as she’s able.
Coffee Collaborations With Bands & The Teamwork Behind It
Another thing Black Forge Coffee has been busy with is coffee collaborations with notable heavy artists like Monolord, Sepultura, and Mayhem. “It’s a new option for bands to have that is a merch item for them. And for us, it’s just like, people gravitate to new, fun things, especially when it comes to coffee. My new general manager, Chad, he designs all the labels. So he always makes each one just very special and people are like gravitating towards it. And our roaster, Morgan, creates all these crazy blends in [their] brain like ‘ah yeah this and this is gonna taste good’. And they’ll walk upstairs and bring us coffee to sniff, like all the new coffees that come in. So we just have a really good team and a really good network of people that work here at Black Forge.”
And that mutual respect for her staff contributes to the atmosphere at Black Forge. “I’m very fortunate that most of my staff is like [the] original staff, and only recently we just started expanding a little bit. So we’re taking on new employees but I don’t really have any turn around. It’s all been like the same people. And my first employee is now the manager of both stores, and she’s just crushing it. And it’s just really cool seeing someone like that just starting at a coffee shop job and growing up to be this really awesome adult that’s like managing my stores,” Ashley says.
“It’s so cool to give that to people and let them shine. That’s the nice thing, too, with my employees because they all have some sort of creative something and they’re always thinking of ideas. Like my one employee, Jake, he’s a skateboarder and he held a fingerboard competition here and it was sold out. There was people everywhere.”
“They built little cities that fit on tables and they would just do their little fingerboards on it. So he did that event and then a couple of them have posted like art nights here, and movie nights, and trivia, and stuff like that. So we just give them opportunities to grow and that’s what keeps them enthused about coming to work, you know? It’s just like I actually care about you and your thoughts and I want to hear you talk and express yourself. Sometimes I’m gonna say no, because we can’t do everything,” she laughs. “But I mean for the most part everyone’s had really great ideas and contributed a lot to what makes this place so special.”
A Group Effort
Giving those opportunities and supporting the youth in our community is something Ashley holds dear.
“A lot of people aren’t given the opportunity or the voice to share what they want to do. And all these metalheads come in here and have these great ideas. Like my buddy, Zack, that does the Sabbath Sunday Yoga.”
Things like Sabbath Sunday Yoga, Heavy Metal Weekend, and Heavy Metal Karaoke are just some of the events held at Black Forge for people who know metal is a lifestyle.
“It’s not even that it’s metal yoga. It’s just that it’s providing something different. A different atmosphere. And nothing’s more relaxing to me than waking up and listening to Sabbath first thing in the morning and stretching, you know? It’s really nice.”
It reminds her of her time spent at The Beehive, and why she started Black Forge to begin with.
“I was like damn maybe one day I could do something cool like that because I’ve always loved like a nice coffee shop atmosphere. And when I was finally able to take all my ideas and write them down on paper, and go through all of my skills, and what I’ve done, I was like ‘wow I think I can make this work, you know, like maybe? And that’s the thing too. It was really hard to convince people that it was going to work. I was denied loans left and right because they were like, ‘we don’t want to fund this; this seems stupid’.”
“But there were a couple people that believed in us,” she continues. “When we first opened we did an Indiegogo fundraiser. We raised like $10,000 and that helped put money down for rent.” She also received equipment donations.
“The really cool thing is this PA and all the lighting is from Altar Bar, because I used to work there when it got shut down. So our sound engineer here, who’s like the sound engineer everywhere, this is all of his equipment. He brought it in here, and he programs everything, and hires all the trainees that he has, and all these young cats coming in learning sound.”
“This is a good starter venue,” she adds. “I’ve been training some people on lighting and showing them just the simple basics so they can get into it, because that’s just how I started. People were just like ‘do you want to play with the lights?’ and I’m just like ‘yes I want to play with the lights’,” she laughs.
“And that’s how I grew my passion from it. So my biggest thing is to consistently make sure I’m offering opportunities that are within my grasp to help people with. Because that’s how I got to where I’m at. People were just really nice enough to help me out. Because even my old coffee shop owner [from Crazy Mocha Coffee] that I worked for donated a bunch of coffee equipment to me. He mentors me if I have questions. Both the coffee and metal communities are so supportive and combining them together is really, really cool.”
“It’s just crazy how looking back at 7 years now all the things that we’ve been involved with. Especially now teaming up with all these bands that are playing at the Roxian,” she adds.
Creating Musical Brews For Black Forge Coffee
So what’s the process like when Ashley and her team develop a coffee for a band they’re teaming up with?
“So the main thing that we do is we listen to it. We listen to the band and we kind of think ‘what kind of vibe do you get’?” As she further explains, “we did an AntiFlag Coffee. So we made that one a little lighter, a little more upbeat because they’re a punk band.”
Ashley also adds, “[for] Monolord, we made it this really nice French roast and added a nice bright bean so it had a little smokiness to it. So we think about that. Mayhem was- it’s an extreme dark roast. It has Robusta Beans and it has the most caffeine content.”
“It always changes and we always try to stay within the theme of how we’re feeling when we’re doing it. What kind of coffee would you feel like drinking when you’re listening to monolord? I want something smokey and riffy and doomy, you know?”
And when asked if she could collaborate with any band on a coffee or tea, Ashley says, “To be honest, we already did it. Doing Monolord was my big one. Then the Type O Negative coffee, too. Those two were like dreams that I never thought would happen.”
“But if I was going to ask any other band to make a coffee, that’s really hard,” she laughs. “I personally would love to make a Slipknot coffee. That’s just like my tried and true young kid inside me,” she says. And it’s those dreams of a tried and true young headbanger that shine through in the Black Forge Coffee brand.
“That’s the nice thing, too, is all these bands are so nice. They are the nicest people. And they’re always down to support a small business,” She talks about Mayhem guitarist, Ghul, recently making a post about Black Forge and how important it is to support small businesses. “That was really cool that someone would go out of their way to say things. And that’s like that power of social media, too, where everyday people are tagging us, and ‘my drink today’ or ‘my shirt’ and it’s so rad seeing these weird little dreams and visions that I have inspiring people and motivating them, and doing things like that, and wanting to come here. I still can’t grasp it but it’s really rad.”
An Evening At Black Forge Coffee
Want to see a glimpse of what a night of coffee and music at Black Forge Coffee looks like? Check out the gallery below with my photos of Trainwrecked’s killer performance on day 2 of Heavy Metal Weekend at Black Forge Coffee. And don’t forget to check out Black Forge’s website for upcoming events or to shop some of their in house brews!
Want to Collaborate?
Click here for more info on collaborations.
