Lynchburg music store Speakertree adds a coffee shop to its downtown space

Vinyl lovers in the Lynchburg area can now enjoy a cup of coffee while looking through vintage records with the addition of Backline Coffee in local record shop Speakertree.  

The natural light and floor-to-ceiling windows invite people to enter and
stay awhile. 

A seemingly endless rack of vinyl records lines the perimeter wall, and a grand, 12-seat craftsman table fills the center of the room, beckoning patrons to have a seat and catch up on emails or study for an exam. A few couches are tucked into the far reaches of the space to offer relaxed seating for those who come just to hang out with friends. Gederberg wants Lynchburg to know that everyone is welcome at Backline Coffee and Speakertree, not just vinyl collectors. 

The idea for Backline Coffee sparked in owner Blake Gederberg’s mind when his favorite band did a limited-edition coffee collaboration with a roastery in Chicago. Coffee was the bridge between community and music that Gederberg wanted to build.

In 2016,  Gederberg was a fresh Liberty graduate with a vision. At the time, he worked as a booking agent for shows in the greater Lynchburg area, renting spaces everywhere from clubs to churches to suit his clients’ needs for performances. 

As Gederberg worked, he observed a growing need for a more intimate, casual venue for bands to perform. That same year, an opportunity arose to purchase a record shop called Speakertree on downtown Lynchburg’s 5th Avenue, and from there his vision blossomed. 

Gederberg wanted to create a collaborative space for local bands and musicians to connect with listeners. He wanted to offer a space – a refuge of musical exploration – for people to come and enjoy a laid-back experience that encouraged local community.

In 2016, downtown Lynchburg businesses were mostly concentrated onto two streets, Main and Commerce, and did not spread far beyond them. Gederberg recognized this, and in 2017 he moved his record shop from 5th Avenue to its current location on Jefferson Street, which was quickly growing into a hot spot in the downtown area. 

But he still felt something missing. 

“(We are) trying to create an environment and experience that’s unparalleled.” Gederberg said. “(It’s) not just (people) coming to buy something. (We’re) not transactional or retail driven.” 

Gederberg’s vision has always been driven by music, collaboration and community, and with this vision in mind, Gederberg set out
to incorporate more of these elements into his record shop. He began booking more live shows with local musicians and interviewing bands and artists for Speakertree’s blog. 

At first, he and his team did not feel like it would make sense to buy local coffee and sell it in their own shop, but ultimately decided that it best represented them as people and the vision for their space to do exactly that. 

“I want money to stay in the local economy. Thinking big picture, I want our success to trickle down to people,” Gederberg said. 

That is when they began searching for a local roaster and met Jimmy Thomas.

Thomas is a small business owner and coffee roaster. He has his own shop in Forest, Virginia, called Third Wave Coffee, but he also roasts and sells his own coffee beans wholesale. 

“We wanted someone who is an expert at (roasting),” Gederberg says. “Jimmy from Third Wave is an absolute animal when it comes to coffee. Literally, one conversation (with him) and he can just talk circles around you. … We love that whoever is roasting our coffee has that much knowledge, passion, and excitement about it just like wedo about what we’re doing.”

According to Thomas, quality coffee roasters must be educated and intentional about their processes from start to finish. The care and diligence required to produce the exceptional product that Thomas provides is exactly the kind of roaster that Backline Coffee wanted to support.

“There’s two paths that you can take with coffee: affordability or quality. It’s very hard to have a cheap, affordable coffee that also has exceptional quality.” Gederberg says. “Some people don’t want to pay five to six dollars for a latte, but it’s not like we’re selling (generic coffee) for $6. We’re selling really good-sourced coffee from really good farms, roasted by an expert. The average consumer that isn’t a coffee fanatic doesn’t fully grasp all the hands that touch (the coffee) before it gets to the (cup). It’s a very labor-intensive product: hand-picked on a farm, imported, hand-sorted to make sure every bean is good enough to sell, then it’s roasted … there’s so much to it that, once the (consumer) gets it, they should feel satisfied that they’re paying for something that had such an impact globally.”

The name of the new addition sticks with the music theme, for “backline” is the music industry term that refers to the rigging and setup behind live bands that amplifies their music. Gederberg felt that the idea of a backline paralleled their vision for amplifying local musicians and providing them with a platform and a place to share their music and messages with the community. “We’re rooted in the belief of (supporting) artists and local bands,” Gederberg said. 

He is passionate about offering Lynchburg a place where everyone is welcome to come discover new music, relax, hang out, or even get some work done in a casual environment. 

 “Our target audience is anyone who has ears,” Gederberg joked.

Backline Coffee offers espresso beverages, coffee, multiple flavors of lemonade, teas, matcha, oat-milk and almond-milk dairy substitutes, hot chocolate, and a changing menu of options for the caffeine-averse. A free Backline Coffee sticker is included with a café purchase. Backline Coffee and Speakertree are located at 901 Jefferson St. in Lynchburg, and they are open seven days a week, 8 a.m. to 7 p.m.