Do you find yourself entering the week more tired than you left the last one? Catching vibes shouldn’t have to mean late nights, hangovers and bad music.
What if your social life centered on nourishment over burnout?
That’s the question that Yameen Thomas and Lance Pryor have asked and answered with RnBrew, a day party where coffee meets cocktails and music sets a vibe reminiscent of family reunions and block parties.
Beginning in March 2025 with just over 100 attendees, the monthly RnBrew parties are now attracting approximately 2,000 people. This week, Thomas and Pryor will host the one-year anniversary celebration, scheduled for Saturday, March 28 at the Urban District Market in north Charlotte’s Optimist Park neighborhood.
Coffee vendors will serve specialty drinks alongside mixologists blending craft cocktails, with DJs spinning R&B, hip-hop, amapiano, house and global grooves. Card games, putting greens and photo ops will encourage community building.
The vision for RnBrew was to tweak club culture for the daytime, replacing heavy bass music with R&B and bottle service with coffee.
“We wanted to package something so unique, and that’s what we were able to do,” said Thomas. “I like to call it lightning in a bottle.”
RnBrew reflects a broader shift in social culture that sees more people looking for daytime experiences that don’t center on alcohol but instead on connection, creativity and wellness along with entertainment.
Thomas said the goal for RnBrew was not just to throw a day party but a social gathering that acts as a third space.
“I also think that [coffee] … is ritual,” said Pryor. “A lot of people, if they skip over [coffee], they feel like they’re missing something. Like, their whole day is off. We become part of somebody’s month like a ritual.”
While coffee serves as the foundation for RnBrew, there are cocktails available to serve as a “social catalyst,” as Thomas called them. For those not interested in alcohol nor caffeine, mocktails are also on the menu.
With beverages locked down, the next critical part of any RnBrew event is the DJs. Pryor has been a DJ himself since his days as a student at Hampton University, later working for Fox Radio and the Charlotte Hornets. He said DJs are selected with great care and must be open to taking feedback.
“In this industry it’s very hard to meet a DJ who’s able to take criticism and feedback and be able to execute on that,” he said.
Good venues are also key for a unique event like RnBrew. Selecting a space is as involved as selecting the cream to coffee ratio in a cup of coffee. Thomas said the main thing the duo seeks in a venue is partnership.
“Do the venues that we’re prospecting believe in the vision? Do they understand the culture? Do they respect the culture?” Thomas continues, “We don’t go places where we don’t feel respected. And I’m speaking specifically as a Black man, that if I don’t feel like this venue owner understands what we’re trying to do and understands who’s coming through that door and creates a space that’s respectful for them, then we don’t go there. And we’ve had to learn the hard way from working with venues.”
Thomas and Pryor are protective of the “Brew Crew,” which is how they lovingly refer to all of their events’ attendees. The core of the Brew Crew is made up mainly of Black women aged 26-44, ranging from white-collar to blue-collar professionals.
With so many women plugged in, the men were sure to follow, and they’ve been coming around in the second half of the event’s first year, say the organizers.
RnBrew’s email newsletter is the access point to the brand, where Thomas and Pryor send out updates about new events, but it was word of mouth on social media that built the foundation for the Brew Crew. Then the media attention came.
Early coverage from outlets like Axios Charlotte and Hypebeast helped introduce the concept to a broader audience.
“Hypebeast was the one that changed everything,” said Pryor.
The online publication included RnBrew in a slate of videos highlighting coffee raves around the world, which garnered attention from well beyond Charlotte.
When the founders realized how many people were coming down from the Triangle to attend Charlotte RnBrew events, they held a test event in Durham. After seeing success there, they popped up in Raleigh about a month later.
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The team hopes to bring RnBrew to new cities outside of North Carolina as the brand continues to grow and evolve into a broader lifestyle platform rooted in music, culture and community. Thomas and Pryor are even considering opening a brick-and-mortar location, perhaps launching their own coffee brand.
Wherever the brand goes from here, it will stay true to the Brew Crew, the founders insisted.
You have a chance to join the Brew Crew at the One Year RnBrew Festival to catch the vibes for yourself. Come out on Saturday, March 28, from 11 a.m. to 4 p.m. at the Urban District Market, 2315 N. Davidson St., for coffee, cocktails, music, culture and community. Get tickets and sign-up for the newsletter at the RnBrew website.
