ASHEVILLE, North Carolina — A new upstart café in Asheville run entirely by Millennials is boasting record sales using a whole new brewing technique: Brewing used cigarette butts.
Mutts and Butts, the dog friendly café, offers a variety of cigarette flavored drinks. Coffee, tea, and their own custom blend: Yerbutt Mabutt, a mix of Yerba Maté and cigarette butts.
“People don’t understand that there is a huge market for cigarette-flavored delicacies” says owner Dave Spiegel, 29. “We tap two markets at once: environmentalists and people seeking that smooth cigarette nostalgia.”
Dave explains that “by picking up used up cigarette butts off the ground and out of open-air ashtrays, we are helping to keep these butts out of landfills.”
“The brewing process is actually very intricate” says Barista Tammy Mays, 24. “Because so much smoke has passed through the butt, it often retains those sweet aromas and tastes. Most of the time, there’s even still some tobacco and other mysterious substances still left unburned. I have no qualms with using used butts because the brewing process disinfects everything.”
The café’s vibe has really jibed with the scene, local glassblower Jamie Nicholson, 26, explains. “Since opening, they’ve been packed with people and dogs, which also count as people in my opinion. I’ve stopped going because the line is almost always out the door.”
We ask daily customer Juniper Spirit, 36, why she comes back to this place every day. “Actually, I haven’t really thought about that. I guess I really like the atmosphere here. The dogs make me feel like I’m not weird and alone and they give me an excuse to talk to their owners. I also start to get jitters if I don’t come here for a day. Did I mention that I love the smell of the cigarettes wafting through the air?”
Away from all the commotion of the shop, we find a homeless man smoking a pack of cigarettes on a park bench. We ask him what he thinks of Mutts and Butts.
“I hate it. I used to be able to find cigarettes to brew in my tea all the time. Sometimes there was even enough left on ‘em to smoke. Now there’s hardly any left out here and I’m forced to steal packs from the gas station.”
Well, one thing is certain! Mutts and Butts is a growing phenomenon and it’s not going away any time soon. If you ever make it to Asheville, make sure to stop by this quaint little café and have yourself a butt.