Kick Butt Coffee, Java and Martial arts: the perfect blend by Lindsey Mullikin

WHILE CHATTING WITH A BANK TELLER about the lack of coffee shops along Airport Boulevard, Thomas Gohring came up with what he thought was a kick-butt idea. Merging his love of martial arts (he also owns Master Gohring's Tai Chi & Kung Fu) with the community's need for a little pick-me-up, he opened Kick Butt Coffee in February. Red walls, nunchucks, bamboo and oriental fans illustrate the business' ties to martial arts. The shop, which serves coffee, wine, beer and liquor, has round, cozy booths, a giant plasma screen TV and a Wii gaming system. But Gohring wanted to build more of a nighttime business in an area largely limited to daytime traffic. He asked his sister Joy, a stand-up comedian, to help start a weekly open mic night, and Kick Butt Comedy was born. The small coffee shop even opened its stage to out-of-town musicians, including John Biz, Aim Low Kid and Christpher Denny, during South by Southwest. Gohring built off that music foundation in May with a bimonthly blues [dance] night. While martial arts, coffee, comedy and music may seem like random patchwork, it's all tied together with a single thread, Gohring explains. "It kind of boils down to one question that we ask ourselves every step of the way: Is it kick-butt?"