Origin and Grind

Before the block wakes up and before the horns start their grind, Ro flips the sign to Open at Origin & Grind - a coffee shop rooted deep in North Memphis, Tennessee. He turns to his daughter Zora and says, "Today we listen to the beans and their mind."

Origin & Grind is a lyrical, spoken-word picture book that follows nine-year-old Zora Robinson as her father, Malik "Ro" Robinson, teaches her the art and history behind their family's coffee roasting craft. Through poetic, rhythmic language and vivid graphic-novel-style illustrations, Ro guides Zora from the roaster's first crack all the way back to the Ethiopian highlands - where a shepherd named Kaldi first noticed his goats dancing wild from a cherry-red find.

"This ain't just beans in heat," Ro tells her. "This is heartbeat work, rhythm and repeat. Sample roast small - that's how we listen. How we hear what the soil been missin'. We don't just roast - we remember. Every crack, every scent, got a story to render."

Side by side with Ro, Zora learns that coffee didn't start in a chain café. It came from African soil, from Ethiopian hills, and from hands that tended the earth long before the world gave it a French name or a price tag of regret. She learns that to roast with intention is to reclaim something true - to put history back in the flame.

Back at Origin & Grind, the whole block gathers. Miss Laverne comes for peace, not the clocks. Dee from down the street sketches beats at the bar. Every sip, every sound - that's who they are. Together, Ro and Zora grind slow, honor fast, and lift the past so the flavor lasts.

Rich with Afrocentric motifs, kente-inspired borders, and warm espresso tones, Origin & Grind is part love letter to Black entrepreneurship, part celebration of African coffee heritage, and part community portrait of a neighborhood where craft, culture, and memory live in every cup.

Perfect for: readers ages 6-12, classroom cultural education, Black History Month, family read-alouds, school and public libraries, and community programs celebrating Black-owned small business.

"Every bean has a story. Every block has a culture."