Shepherd Combs got his start in the beverage industry as a barista when he was a teenager. Later, he went on to become a bartender and learned the art of crafting cocktails. Over the next several years, he honed his skills and leaned into the art and science of molecular gastronomy. He innovated his drink creations with flavored pearls, airs and foams, along with homemade syrups and artful garnishes.
Combs enjoyed bartending, but after several years he desired a change and wanted to return to his roots: coffee.
“I found myself wanting a slower paced job and the ability to rise in the morning with the sun,” he says. “With my background in bartending, I also began thinking of the ways I could elevate a coffee experience into more of a cocktail experience.”
Cinchona
Cinchona is a plant in the coffee family and is also the most commonly used plant in bartending. Quinine is made from the bark of the cinchona tree and is used to flavor tonic water.
“When I was bartending, I read a book called The Drunken Botanist: Plants that Create the World’s Great Drinks by Amy Stewart,” he says. “I learned about the Cinchona Tree and liked the synergy of a plant from the coffee family and that is also associated with cocktail culture. I decided it was a perfect name for my new business concept.”
New Space
Cinchona started as a mobile coffee cart. Combs and his business partner took their cart to pop-ups and local events for about a year before his partner left for another job opportunity. Combs bought him out and transferred to a brick-and-mortar location within Provision Bakery, where he started a collaboration with both the bakery and Third Wave Chocolate.
As luck would have it, a space next door to Provision Bakery opened up in the summer of 2025. Combs secured the space, highlighted the exposed brick walls with street art and procured living-room-style seating for a warmer, more intimate setting.
Beverage Program
Combs has created a beverage menu with an equal focus on coffee and matcha.
“The coffee program is unusual for a couple of reasons. For one, we are one of very few (globally) cafes serving light-roast coffee on a spring-lever, single-boiler espresso machine. It’s an older brewing technology that actually makes really fantastic coffee, but it requires more training to use,” he says. “Another unusual aspect is a pour-over menu written a bit like a wine list. We keep individual servings of coffee vacuum-sealed and frozen. Not only can you order different regions of coffee, but also different vintages over time.”
The matcha program focuses on extremely high-quality matcha and rotates through different producers from around the globe.
To embrace the elevated cocktail-style experience, there is an ever-evolving menu that incorporates coffee, matcha and bean-to-bar chocolate into fun mixed drinks. In the past, the menu included dark hot chocolate with goat cheese whipped cream, horchata matcha, espresso pearls in a fizz, smoked coffee, and many other inspired drinks developed while bartending.
Cinchona proudly partners with both foreign and domestic roasters such as Prodigal in Boulder, One Half in Kuala Lumpur, Leaves in Tokyo, Sweven in Bristol, and Standout in Stockholm. The chocolate is from local bean-to-bar chocolate maker Third Wave Chocolate.
Mail-Order Coffee
As an avid coffee connoisseur, Combs has been developing a program where he sources coffee beans from around the world with different pricing tiers. When you sign up, he will send you a bag every month to experience and enjoy at home.
A Note from the Artist
“Cinchona has a different focus than other coffee shops,” he says. “I want to serve stuff that I am excited about, not necessarily for an existing market demand. Every time I make a decision, I ask myself, ‘Is this a decision for art or commerce?’ And I hope to make more decisions for the art of serving what I want rather than chasing market trends.”
Address + Phone: 2 S. Wahsatch, Suite 110 | 719-644-6168
Website: https://cinchonacoffee.com/
Instagram: @CinchonaCoffee