Keba Konte, founder of Oakland-based roastery Red Bay Coffee, shares how his partnership with the Oscar-winning filmmaker is shaping a new era for the industry.
BY EMILY JOY MENESES
ONLINE EDITOR
Photos courtesy of Red Bay Coffee
Throughout history, coffee has served as one of the most powerful forms of connection—a ritual through which different worlds can collide and share stories, find inspiration, and begin to build something together. In the modern world, coffee’s ability to connect people and fuel conversation is frequently shown by cross-industry collaborations, like the one between Red Bay Coffee and filmmaker Ryan Coogler.
Ryan Coogler, whose 2025 film Sinners received sixteen Oscar nominations this year and four Oscar wins, recently spotlighted Red Bay Coffee alongside actor Michael B. Jordan on an episode of Proximity Media’s Youtube series, In Proximity. During the episode, he was seen dialing in shots of Red Bay’s flagship espresso blend, “Fight the Power,” amid conversations about filmmaking, art, and how his love for coffee connects to it all.
The espresso blend is part of the Oakland-based roastery’s Hero Collection, which features three roasts named after socially significant songs: Fight the Power, This Is America, and People Get Ready.
Keba Konte, the Bay Area native who founded Red Bay Coffee in 2014, shares that the Hero Collection was created to honor the history of Black resistance in the United States. “In today’s volatile political climate, we’re highlighting these blends not just as tributes, but as essential fuel for the moment,” he says.
The story behind the collaboration
Keba explains how the partnership between Red Bay Coffee and Ryan Coogler came to be: “My daughter, Jessica, and Ryan attended high school together, and she connected the two of us when Ryan was early in his coffee journey,” Keba told Barista Magazine. “He’s a deeply curious person, so we spent time at the Red Bay Roastery tasting and discussing coffee, flavor, sourcing, history, and ritual. We’re fortunate to now have him as a partner at Red Bay Coffee; we share a love for Oakland, coffee, art, and family.”
Keba also describes the significance of coffee and film colliding, and how the two seemingly separate industries can work in tandem to share a deeper message. “(Both industries) live at the intersection of technique, culture, and narrative,” he says. “The Proximity Podcast has been an ideal platform to lift up the message of coffees like Fight the Power.”
“Twelve years ago, Black-owned specialty coffee brands were few and far between,” Keba adds. “Today, seeing two of the most visible Black creatives in the world publicly sharing craft coffee shifts the narrative.”
A necessary wake-up call
Beyond tasting notes, Red Bay Coffee’s Hero Collection invites drinkers into something deeper. As Keba puts it: “Art and coffee share the same mandate: to wake our asses up. We named this collection after these anthems because they demand attention. In a political climate that tries to numb us, we want every sip to be a reminder to stay alert and stay engaged.”
That awakening extends to how coffee functions in everyday life—where, how, and by who it’s consumed. “Coffee has historically been the drink of revolutionaries, artists, and organizers,” Keba says. “We want this collection to be present in those spaces again.”
Ushering in the fourth wave of coffee
In conversations about revolution—both within and outside the coffee world—Keba emphasizes the significance of the fourth wave of coffee. As we move into this new chapter, the focus is evolving beyond sourcing transparency and coffee quality (focuses of the third wave), toward questions of equity, representation, and what Keba calls “cultural authorship”: who gets to define flavor and the café experience.
“Broader participation is shaping this era. Producers are innovating with fruit-forward fermentations. Diasporic communities are introducing flavors like candied yam and pandan into café menus. Immigrant café owners are redefining space and hospitality,” Keba told Barista Magazine. “The fourth wave asks: Who gets to shape taste? Who owns the narrative? Who benefits?”
Tune in + fight the power
Bringing the conversation back to the Hero Collection, Keba says that coffee drinkers can best absorb the message by listening to the songs the roasts are named after.
“I hope people listen to these songs—really listen,” he says. “Watch the videos. Sit with the lyrics. Let the coffee accompany that reflection. Coffee is a gathering point. And gathering points are where change begins.”
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