Our Shop

770 WOODWARD HTS, FERNDALE, MI 48220

We were so excited to open our doors at our brick-and-mortar location in March 2019 after nearly four years of traveling with the caboose! This location is a two-story community hub and coffee shop complete with a cafe, quiet area, and greenhouse.
Also, there’s a kickass, locally-sourced menu!

Our Mission:

To create community centered around respect for all humans, understanding of intersectionality, and damn tasty coffee.

Our Values:

Drifter Coffee is founded on:
Respect for all humans: When you come into our shop or interact with us online, it is our responsibility to treat you with respect. We will take time to chat with you, provide you with the best product, and look forward to having you back. This also means that we will uphold a standard of respect for our team– be kind to your baristas and other folks around you.

Understanding of intersectionality: Intersectionality is defined as “the interconnected nature of social categorizations such as race, class, and gender, regarded as creating overlapping and interdependent systems of discrimination or disadvantage; a theoretical approach based on such a premise.” (Oxford Dictionary) At our shop, we are always working to better educate ourselves on the intersections of social and environmental justice. We strive to host community events and amplify the voices of marginalized groups in our neighborhood and industry. If you have ideas of ways we can further boost this value, please reach out!

Damn tasty coffee: We don’t want our coffee to just taste good. Every cup features locally sourced goods (shout out to our in-house roasters Gooseneck Coffee, espresso roasters at Hyperion Coffee Co + farming friends at Yad Ezra), environmentally-friendly packaging (courtesy of Green Safe Products in Detroit), and specialty fixings (like our house-made syrups or Calder whole, Milkadamia macadamia + Califia oat milks). And further to that point, by supporting our small business, you’re supporting our team of women and queer baristas.

But yeah, it’s tasty, too.

Drifter Coffee began in 2015 as a mobile coffee shop in a 1971 Serro Scotty trailer known as the Caboose! We found it on Craigslist and gave it a Drifter-style renovation.

Since then, the Caboose has been a part of Eastern & Wayne State Farmers Markets, Mo Pop Festival, weddings, birthdays, and community events all over Michigan.

We have retired the Caboose since opening our shop, but thank you to everyone who ever visited us on the road!