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Skoden, a coffee shop that centers Indigenous creatives, opens in Phoenix Born on the Navajo Nation, Skoden Coffee & Tea starts a new chapter at For the People. By Sara Crocker December 18, 2023
Skoden Coffee & Tea, an Indigenous-owned coffee shop born on the Navajo Nation, has started a new chapter in Phoenix, replacing Kream Coffee inside the Uptown Phoenix furniture and design store, For the People.
Skoden officially opened on Dec. 4, serving a menu of espresso drinks, pour-over coffees, teas and pastries.
“Skoden is a queer, Indigenous, femme-led coffee shop,” says co-owner Natasha John.
Skoden is a Native American turn of phrase for “let’s go then,” John explains. The coffee shop arrived in Phoenix as a pop-up, serving at the Desert Botanical Garden and events over the summer before taking over the space where Kream had resided. But, the aim is to do more than brew coffee, the shop’s team says. First, Skoden operates as a collective.
“We all have an equal say in what happens with Skoden,” John says.
She also wants the space to feel like a grandmother’s kitchen on the Navajo Nation, a safe space that provides a taste of home through blue corn pastries and tea.
“We come from a matriarchy and we wanted to pay respects to our grandmothers," John says. “It’s important for us to stay connected, which is why we try to use ancestral ingredients as well."
The goal of the coffee shop is also to center and celebrate Indigenous creatives.
John and her wife Sabrina Sugimura curate a wall with items from Indigenous artisans – from bags of coffee and espresso beans to hand-crafted mugs and candles. As a collective, it is a process the couple is sharing with members of Skoden, like Jordan Manuelito.
“I wanted to support our community most importantly and look for what we have in mind – queer, femme, Indigenous artists,” Manuelito explains.
What’s on the menu?
The shop’s menu includes traditional espresso and coffee drinks, such as a cappuccino made with espresso from Novela Coffee Roasters and foamed oat milk or a cold brew steeped for 24 hours, made with beans roasted by Labah Drive Coffee Co. But that’s not all.
“We also have our twist on it where we incorporate our ingredients from our culture as well,” says KaLynn Yazzie, who is Skoden’s lead barista and manages the shop’s pop-up events.
That means using traditional and seasonal ingredients, she adds, but they’re also brewing up unique sips.
Take the Diné Matcha Latte, a Japanese-Diné fusion that reflects the roots of the people behind the shop by “blending (them) together to get more representation," Yazzie says.
She explains how the drink is made.
“Usually matcha is made with hot water and you mix it together. However, we substituted the hot water with Diné tea and it gives it more of that earthy flavor,” she says.
Diné tea is made from greenthread, or thelesperma, a perennial plant. It’s harvested outside of Gallup, New Mexico, John says.
“It is more like an herbal tea that helps with indigestion,” explains Manuelito, who, because they receive questions about the tea, made an infographic to explain its significance to the Diné.
John says she is also collaborating with an Indigenous-owned tea company to create a house blend that will debut in the coming months.
Skoden’s “drinks that are just cute,” also include popular sips like the Brown Sugar Latte, which includes a scratch-made brown sugar syrup.
In addition to coffees and teas, the little cafe also offers pastries, including blue corn croissants made by Redhouse Delicates and macarons made by Ádístsiin, in flavors such as strawberry sage and lemon sweetgrass.
Changes underway at For the People Kream Coffee, which had been part of For the People since 2016, announced the passing of the torch to Skoden on Nov. 30. Shawn Silberblatt, who owns For the People and Kream with Chad Campbell, said it was time to return the coffee space to its original intention of incubating a business.
Silberblatt and John first met at Kream and reconnected years later at Dialog, where John shared she was looking for space. It was serendipitous for Silberblatt and Campbell, who were considering changes at For the People.
“I was like, ‘Do you want to take over Kream Coffee?'" Silberblatt recalled.
Skoden is the first of what he says will be four businesses or collectives that will be joining the space, which will continue to serve as a furniture showroom. Silberblatt says Neighbor, a Phoenix-based outdoor furniture company, will showcase its pieces there, creating a “store-within-a-store." Though he couldn’t share details yet, Silberblatt teases that partnerships are in the works to curate art and fashion, too.
“Really For the People is doing more of what the name implies – we’re giving four other businesses a way to incubate and share the space," Silberblatt says.
And, a coffee shop is an important piece to maintaining its presence as a community hub, he says.
“I’m very happy (John) and Skoden are in there," Silberblatt says. “They’re so passionate about what they’re doing."
John says she has been overwhelmed by the response so far, not only from former Kream customers but also from Indigenous people who have shown up to support someone else in the community.
“I was so emotional,” John says of the opening day.
In addition to getting settled into their permanent home at For the People, Skoden will continue to pop up at events. While it’s been a whirlwind start, John credits the success to the entire group.
“I couldn’t do it without these guys, our crew and also my wife,” she says. “It really is like a family affair.”
