Onyx Coffee Lab - Springdale

Hail Fellow Well Met and a Kenya pour-over are the two orders that define the Springdale branch of Onyx Coffee Lab, the Northwest Arkansas coffee company founded in 2012 by Andrea Allen and Jon Allen. The downtown cafe opened in May 2025 across three floors, bringing the roaster, cafe and barista-training identity into one building, with a chocolate-making area on the lower floor.

Coffee described by origin and process

Onyx presents itself as coffee roasters, cafe and barista training, and lists its coffees by origin, tasting notes and processing rather than by roast level. Ethiopia Agaro Yukro G1 is one current example, sourced through a long relationship with Red Fox Coffee and produced by smallholder farmers in Wanja Kersa in the western Agaro region, washed at the Yukro station and listed with apricot, barley tea, bergamot and caramel.

At Springdale the drinks guests name are the Kenya pour-over, Hail Fellow Well Met and the tiramisu latte. The wider lineup includes Power Nap, Geometry, Southern Weather, Tropical Weather and cold brew, with tea and ceremonial-grade matcha alongside.

Three floors, and a chocolate room below

The Springdale location is more than a counter. Onyx calls it a three-story cafe in the heart of downtown, on the greenway and within the pedestrian life of Emma Avenue, and it gets used for meetups, studying, reading and laptop work as much as for a quick coffee.

The layout carries that: indoor and outdoor seating, arrangements for groups and for solo work, a quiet upstairs study room, a turf area, and the chocolate-making area downstairs. Staff will talk through baked-good ingredients, including dairy-free options. The branch was named Best New Cafe in the 2026 Sprudgie Awards.

Order Hail Fellow Well Met, then the orange roll

Hail Fellow Well Met is the clearest named signature to start with. A Kenya pour-over is the better order for anyone who wants Onyx as a roaster rather than an espresso bar, and the tiramisu latte is the sweeter option beside them.

Food holds its own. The breakfast sandwich and the rich orange roll are the two to share, with baked goods later in the day and ice cream if you want it. The most distinctive part is the chocolate: Terroir by Onyx makes bars from Madagascar, Colombia and Peru cacao, and won 2024 Good Food Awards for its 69% Madagascar dark chocolate and its chai milk chocolate with pink peppercorn. Downstairs a chocolatier explains the work and hands out samples, which makes chocolate part of the visit rather than a retail add-on.