Desiree Rene-Hlavenka said she has always seen coffee shops as a place to settle down and relax. Rene-Hlavenka, who is also a musician, said her love of music, art and coffee shop vibes led her to open Filter(ed) in January 2015.

Prior to opening in downtown McKinney, Rene-Hlavenka would jot down notes about what she wanted in a coffee shop and began serving coffee at the Frisco Farmers Market in 2014.

The goal of the coffee shop is to blend music and culture, Rene-Hlavenka said. To incorporate art and music Filter(ed) hosts open mic nights, comedy nights and live music throughout the month.

“It was a very selfish perspective that [the coffee shop is] all the things that I loved,” Rene-Hlavenka said. “Purposefully I pulled all that influence because I was starting to see kind of how it made sense [in a coffee shop].”

In addition to standard coffee drinks such as Americanos, drip coffee and lattes, Filter(ed) offers a variety of teas, signature drinks and seasonal specials. Rene-Hlavenka said a popular drink is the Orange Sweater, which is a cinnamon-spiced cappuccino with brown sugar and orange bitters.

Filter(ed) often offers new signature drinks at the beginning of each season and began offering four “Studio Special” drinks in November. These specials include the 4/4, which is four shots of espresso; an Italian soda rotator called Mix Master; mint-infused tea with honey called Take 2 Tea; and Devon’s Solo, which is a marshmallow creme hot chocolate. These specials are created by Filter(ed) staff, Rene-Hlavenka said.

The coffee shop also has a studio space for artists to rent and a multipurpose room used for voice and music lessons, recording podcasts and meetings.

“It really depends on your community and what people want [in a coffee shop], but music is so heavy in McKinney; I would never have known,” Rene-Hlavenka said.