WHEN IAN DAVIS, owner of Blip Coffee Roasters, opened his business in 2014, he simply set out to roast coffee and sell his products to restaurants, offices and other businesses. He never intended to become the central gathering spot for the motorcycle community of Kansas City.
Blip Coffee Roasters is a perfect fit for its location in the West Bottoms, which was a stockyards area of the Old West that later grew into a late 19th and early 20th century industrial neighborhood. Known for its mid-rise heavy timber and mass masonry buildings, it transformed over time into an eclectic district filled with antique stores, artist spaces and seasonal haunted houses, as well as other industrial and commercial uses. It could be described as both “artsy” and “gritty.”
Davis sold his truck to raise funds to buy his first commercial roaster. This left him with a 1976 Honda motorcycle as his main transportation. A neighboring business owner, who specializes in vintage custom motorcycle fabrication, noticed Davis’s motorcycle regularly parked outside and stopped in one day to see the operation. The two bonded and began planning rides with a small group of friends on Sunday mornings. They would first meet up at Blip to drink coffee before the ride. At the time, Davis only had the ability to make pour-over coffee, and as more people began showing up for the rides, he saw an opportunity to open a small café within the roastery.
With the launch of the café, more members of the motorcycle community started showing up. Several setbacks, including a fire and Covid, forced Davis to move into new locations within the West Bottoms neighborhood. Through each of those setbacks, however, the community only strengthened in numbers. Now, on any fair-weathered Sunday morning, hundreds of motorcyclists from all walks of life congregate at Blip to socialize, sip coffee and admire all the motorcycles lining the street in front of the business…