Just Off the Beaten Path: Why The Kentucky Coffee Trail Exists

Just Off the Beaten Path: Why The Kentucky Coffee Trail Exists

Why purpose, partnership, and local businesses are shaping a new way to Sip, Explore, Enjoy Kentucky

If you are new here, The Kentucky Coffee Trail is a statewide initiative connecting independent coffee shops across all nine of Kentucky’s official tourism regions. The Trail was created to invite travelers to explore the Commonwealth through its small towns, locally owned businesses, and the people who give each community its character.

But the real reason The Kentucky Coffee Trail exists is simpler.

Some of Kentucky’s most meaningful experiences do not happen on interstates or in big cities. They happen just off the beaten path.

They happen in small towns.
In locally owned coffee shops.
In places that reflect the creativity, work, and identity of a community.

That belief is what sparked The Kentucky Coffee Trail.

The challenge we saw was this: travelers often pass through Kentucky without ever experiencing the small towns, artists, makers, and locally owned businesses that define the state. At the same time, independent coffee shops and Kentucky-made brands are doing meaningful work but often lack a shared platform to reach new audiences beyond their immediate communities.

The Kentucky Coffee Trail was built as a solution to both.

By using locally owned coffee shops as entry points, The Kentucky Coffee Trail creates a simple and welcoming way for visitors to discover small towns while giving communities a place to showcase what makes them unique. That includes local art, Kentucky-made products, creative talent, and stories that cannot be found anywhere else.

This week marked an important milestone for The Kentucky Coffee Trail. Morehead Rowan County Tourism became the first regional sponsor of The Kentucky Coffee Trail.

On paper, that is an announcement.
In reality, it is validation.

Morehead Rowan County Tourism’s identity centers on inviting visitors just off the beaten path, and that alignment matters. The Kentucky Coffee Trail was never about moving people through communities quickly. It is about encouraging them to stay longer, explore deeper, and connect more meaningfully with the places they visit.

Regional sponsorships provide the funding needed to print passports, support marketing and advertising, and begin building The Kentucky Coffee Trail’s digital experience.

They also allow The Kentucky Coffee Trail to intentionally elevate Kentucky artists, makers, and locally made products by partnering with coffee shops as community hubs where creativity, commerce, and connection naturally intersect.

This first partnership is a reminder that The Kentucky Coffee Trail is bigger than any one town, shop, or organization. It is a shared effort built around a simple idea: when you support local businesses, celebrate creativity, and make it easier for people to explore beyond the obvious stops, everyone benefits.

There is still so much ahead.

Other regions are open.
More artists and makers are ready to be featured.
More coffee shops are ready to welcome people in.

If this project resonates with you, whether you are a traveler, a business owner, an artist, or a potential partner, you are already part of what we are building.

Sometimes the most meaningful experiences are not the ones everyone talks about.

They are the ones just off the beaten path.