The building at 11217 Johnson Drive isn’t new; far from it. The historic space has lived many lives, starting out as a gas station in the early 1900s, then an auto mechanic, then a pediatric home services office.
What’s new is the coffee shop inside it. What started as a quiet soft opening quickly turned into a busy first week at Current State Coffee Roasters, with baristas pouring lattes and customers pouring in to get a look at the roasting process as they sip their drinks.
Owners Nick Robertson, David Weber and Josh Greenlee opened their new coffee shop and roastery on Monday.
Current State Coffee Roasters opened at 11217 Johnson Drive
- The shop opened in a space just off Johnson Drive and King Avenue in downtown Shawnee.
- There, it operates near Tiki Taco and The Flying Cow on Johnson Drive.
- Current State Coffee Roasters is open from 6 a.m. to 6 p.m. daily.
Current State wants customers to “drink in the now”
The menu at Current State offers both traditional drinks like lattes and cold brews, as well as a selection of pour-over drinks for more seasoned coffee drinkers.
Some early standouts on the menu include the hazelnut latte (made with fresh roasted hazelnuts) and the caffe nico (an orange latte dusted with Vietnamese cinnamon) .
A non-coffee item has also already proven popular: the house-made limeade, made with fresh-squeezed lime juice.
“In the summertime, nothing hits like a limeade,” Robertson said. “It’s a multi-generational favorite.”
The shop’s motto is “drink in the now”, i.e. stay focused on the moment (and the coffee) in front of you. That’s also where the name, Current State, comes from.
Current State’s menu is structured around that idea. Food offerings are kept intentionally minimal — a full case of pastries from local bakeries Aurora Cafe & Bakery and The Baked Crow (Kansas City-based Crows Coffee’s pastry program), and some limited lunch items, but no sprawling breakfast menu or hot food items of their own.
The idea is to keep coffee front and center. As both a cafe and a roasting facility, there’s an educational component in it for customers too.
“We wanted a facility that people can come and spend time in, and learn more about coffee,” Robertson said, “and get coffee that’s processed and prepared traditionally, in the Italian way and in a modern American way at the same time.”
The owners are not new to coffee
Before opening their own coffee shop, all three owners had already spent time in the industry. In fact, Greenlee owns Seleno Coffee in Overland Park, and Robertson is a former partner of Kansas City-based Messenger Coffee.
When looking for a space for their own venture to call home, the trio cast a wide net, from Merriam to almost as far west as Kansas Highway 7. When they found a historic building right in the middle, in downtown Shawnee, it felt immediately right.
“As soon as we looked in the building, I just knew that if we didn’t do everything we could to secure this building and make it happen here, we would regret it for the rest of our lives,” Weber said. “So we just went for it.”
As a Shawnee resident himself, creating something meaningful for his own community (and his own family) has been exciting to Weber.
“Living in Shawnee, having kids in elementary school here, being integrated in the community, I just think it’s really exciting that I get to facilitate and create a space for neighbors and friends and my kids to bring their friends to,” he said. “This is a big, exciting and scary risk for my family, but it’s going to be a place that my kids get to come and hang out with me as they grow up, and just form memories here.”
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