Pink coffee cart finds semi-permanent (and tiny) home on busy downtown Raleigh street
There’s a new place to grab a latte in downtown Raleigh, but if you blink, you might miss it.
The pink Elevated Coffee cart, though portable, has been stationed in a nook off Fayetteville Street in downtown Raleigh since the beginning of November.
Tucked in a 24-square-foot space at 234 Fayetteville St., next to Subway, there’s no prominent signage marking the business, or even a door.
Instead, during weekday mornings, Elevated Coffee owner and barista Jackie Machado rolls the cart in front of a window that lifts up, creating a kind of walk-up counter.
From 8 a.m.-12 p.m. Monday-Tuesday and Thursday-Friday, she prepares and serves espresso drinks and teas from behind the pink cart.
Machado’s lease isn’t permanent, but the Elevated Coffee cart will be parked on Fayetteville Street at least through December, she told The News & Observer.
How Elevated Coffee started
Machado, 24, started Elevated Coffee about a year ago, in October 2023. The faith-based name is inspired by Elevation Worship, a Christian music group from Charlotte’s Elevation Church.
She likes coffee, she said, and previously worked as a barista at Better Buzz in San Diego, California.
“I wanted to start with something small rather than going into a brick-and-mortar because I wanted to see if I could do this. Because If I could do this, then I could do something bigger,” Machado said.
She initially used store-bought beans but later switched to beans from the Triangle’s Cafecito Debelles Roastery. Machado makes espresso drinks, including hot and iced lattes. In the summer, her horchata lattes are popular. She also sells chai lattes and lavender black tea.
Machado built the first cart herself, but the second — and current — cart was built by a woodworker in Charlotte. It’s collapsible (for easier transport), has more counter space than the original version and contains more shelving.
Machado, who takes care of her young son, decided she wanted to run the coffee cart throughout the week, not just during events including weddings, showers and markets.
That’s why she set up shop in the nook on Fayetteville Street.
The end goal, though, is to open her own cafe and bakery.
New coffee shops in downtown Raleigh
- Sir Walter Coffee, which already had a shop on Davie Street, opened a new location at 555 Fayetteville St. in October. It moved into the former B. Good spot, The News & Observer previously reported.
- Jubala Coffee plans to open its largest shop yet — 3,000 square feet — on the ground floor of the Pendo building on Hillsborough Street. The projected opening is summer 2025, The N&O reported in August.
This story was originally published November 29, 2024 at 7:00 AM.
