Dolly Parton week at Inman Street Coffee

Jan 30

Jan 30 Dolly Parton week at Inman Street Coffee

Barista Caleb Douglas & owner Joel Rogers sharing laughs over favorite drinks on the Dolly Parton menu.
Photo by Senior Photographer, Riley Evans

Inman Street Coffee put itself on the map last week for big coffee drinkers and big haired Dolly Parton fans to unite over shared cups of ‘Dolly themed’ espresso drinks and smoothies.

January 19, 1946, Dolly Parton’s birthday, became a ‘holiday’ for country music fans and Tennesseans alike and Inman wanted to recognize the week in honor of the queen of country herself.

“Who doesn’t love Dolly?”

remarked owner of Inman Street Joel Rogers.

Rogers, along with his team of baristas and dedicated Inman Street regulars, come up with drinks for niche holidays they find along the way. Together the team will workshop names and flavors that fit the theme of each week.

“I will usually just pull whoever is in here … and ask them when you think of (Dolly Parton) what do you think of? It’s just a conglomeration of whoever is around,” Rogers said, referring to an interaction he had with a regular named Tammy.

Photo by Senior Photographer, Riley Evans

Tammy, the regular that aided in the creation of the ‘Jolene’ drink, hopped behind the espresso bar along with Rogers to create spicy drink that represented Parton’s song.

From there, Rogers, who is the “wordsmith of the menu” as barista Hannah Franklin described it, will fill in a menu that describes the flavors of each drink. According to Franklin, the menu attracted many Parton fans dressed in Dolly Parton shirts throughout the week.

‘Beg Your Pardon’

The crowd favorite was a chai and blackberry drink called “Beg Your Pardon”. Caleb Douglas, a veteran barista of Inman, revered the drink as one that reminded him of childhood memories of picking blackberries.

However, Parton’s birthday wasn’t the only week that has been celebrated at Inman Street Coffee.

It all started with a nationally recognized holiday, National Donut Day (June 2), that was created to honor the Salvation Army’s efforts during World War I. The Salvation Army sent over 250 volunteers to military camps to provide the soldiers with coffee and donuts. The volunteers, affectionately called ‘Donut Lassies’ by the soldiers, would fry rings of dough in soldiers helmets and cover them in cinnamon and sugar.

In the thoughts of of this holiday, Inman started to celebrate niche holidays like Dolly Parton’s birthday.

“Inman was created to build community … Inman, through these weeks, are trying to reach people that may not have a community,” Franklin said looking at the creation of this tradition as a whole.

The current menu is full of fun-loving Valentines Day drinks that range from the ‘Chocolate Covered Strawberry’ to the ‘Be Mine Berry Smoothie’. On ‘May the Fourth be With You’ and ‘Revenge of the Sixth’ there will be a menu that includes Star Wars themed drinks like a minty Yoda drink.