Black-owned Coffee Shops Part 2: another cozy cluster
By Guest Blogger Colleen Luckett
This is part 2 in a series of 3. Read part 1 here.
A while back, we brought you a description of four Black-owned coffee shops around the country as an alternative to Starbucks—so when you’re out supporting social justice issues, you can put your money where your mouth is and invest in local Black-owned coffee businesses! This month we’re continuing our description with five more from Venice, California to Brooklyn, New York.
We have included Covid19 pandemic information if available, but as always, be sure to call ahead to make sure you’re safe!
Flowerboy Project (Venice, CA)—A cozy combination of floral beauty and coffee
Opened on July 18, 2015, in Venice, California, Flowerboy Project is more than a coffee shop—it’s also a beautifully designed place to buy lovely flowers, enjoy some tea or coffee, and maybe even cover the perfect Valentine’s gift.
Owner Sean Knibbs describes Flowerboy Project as “urban beach,” the concept being a hybrid NYC bodega. “Flowerboy” was a name that stuck with him after his many summers in Jamaica visiting his florist grandmother as a child. Partnering with Lindsay and Raan Parton of Alchemy Works, Knibbs delivers delicious coffee with a beautiful curation of gifts.
But Knibbs doesn’t necessarily vibe with the driving force of consumerism in America. Rather, he asks, “What do we really need to buy? Preciousness does not come from cost. It comes from sensitivity and understanding. It has nothing to do with cost,” he explained at The Fullest blog.
Knibbs has lived in Venice for 35 years and has skills that span landscape work to furniture and full-service hospitality design (his firm designed the Line Hotel in Koreatown, Los Angeles).
Along with serving up Australia’s Vittoria Coffee, the cozy menu includes Sugarbloom Bakery goods, Harriet’s Cheesecakes, Alma chocolates from Portland, OR, and sandwiches from Madame Monsieur in downtown made with Clark Street Bread in LA.
Black Swan Espresso (Newark, NJ)—Covers coffee and tea in downtown Newark
Halsey Street, once lined with private parking lots and vacant buildings, is now home to many new development projects that will reinvent Downtown Newark. Along with other emerging new businesses in the area, Laura Mashtaler’s Black Swan Espresso was Newark’s very first specialty coffee and tea shop, opened in September 2017. The business was named for a species of rare black swans, the “Cygnus atratus.” This shop exemplifies its name with hand-ground beans and the highlighted single-origin beans and blends from award-winning roasters. And if you order something with a little foam, you may be treated to some very impressive latte art.
Led by Mashtaler’s sons, Adam and Jeffrey, Black Swan Espresso is touted as a social venture catering to the downtown Newark business and college market, hiring local employees, using sustainable and locally sourced products, and showing and selling local artists’ work in the shop. And hey, you might even run into the mayor—apparently, Mayor Ras Baraka, who has overseen some of the most significant growth the city has seen in a generation, has been in for their matcha lattes more than once.
Mashtaler is extremely concerned that numerous small businesses will have to shut down again during the coronavirus pandemic’s second wave. Even with adding online sales, she said the pandemic pushed business down 75%.
“We’re born and bred in Newark, New Jersey. That really hurts because you have bills to pay and you want to keep your employees working,” she told CBS2 in NJ.
To support this local coffee shop, if you’re in the area, order online today!
Venture North (Minneapolis, MN)—Joins trend of bike and coffee shops in cozy combination
The Venture North Bike Walk and Coffee shop, opened in north Minneapolis in October 2011, with the help of federal funding. It’s one part of a larger plan to encourage biking and walking in the city, said Kristen Klingler of the Minneapolis Department of Health.
Diabetes and obesity rates in the neighborhoods are twice those in the rest of the city. Klingler says the initiative hopes to improve access for affordable physical activity among residents.
So, need a bike fix AND some coffee? Cozy up to Venture North for all your answers! Nonprofit Redeemer Center for Life opened Venture North as a full-service bike and coffee shop. According to their website, they are “committed to making the Harrison neighborhood of North Minneapolis an empowering, healthy place to live by increasing racial, economic, and gender equity within the biking community.”
Venture North covers all the regular coffee fare, such as lattes, cappuccinos, frappes, and espresso shots, but if coffee makes you cringe, they also serve up lemonade, tea, smoothies, and other fun concoctions like their specialty drinks! Adventure out and try their “Glenwood Fog” or the “Venturno.”
Redeemer Center for Life empowers youth in the community through cycling programs, classes, and employment and internship opportunities. The coffee shop serves up local brew from Roastery 7 Coffee, an organic roaster in Minneapolis. Check out their blog for some tips for biking in the winter—information that may come in handy if you must brave the Minnesota winter without a car!
From their website: “Due to the Covid-19 outbreak, we are offering to-go coffee drinks from 7am-6pm Tuesday-Saturday, and bike service from Thursday-Saturday 11-6. Currently, our turnaround time for bike service is 2-4 weeks depending on the condition of the bike.”
Brooklyn Perk—Coffee and community covered in Brooklyn, NY
This local coffee shop, located in the Prospect Lefferts Gardens neighborhood in Brooklyn, serves up “peace, love, and unity” plus some great coffee offerings! It opened on December 1, 2018, with the goal of having an inclusive space for all in the community.
Says owner Joel, “Whenever someone walks into this space, they should always feel welcome and as if this is a home away from home.”
Joel goes on to explain that he was raised in the neighborhood, and when he moved back, he wanted to open a business that would encourage youth in the community to go after their goals.
“Community is everything, but to have a true community is to have total inclusion for everyone,” he said.
Indeed, customers of Brooklyn Perk rave about Joel and his warm and welcoming vibes, and one reviewer on Yelp! describes Joel as a “latte magician.” In addition to some good feels and coffee brewing mastery, Brooklyn Perk covers a delicious assortment of coffee, tea and bottled beverages, along with scrumptious pastries (vegan and gluten-free, as well). During the pandemic, they offer online ordering for pick up at Toast.com.
Whittier Café—Coffee shop and cozy gathering place in Denver, CO
Nicknamed the "activists' coffee shop," this African espresso bar is more than just a café—it’s a gathering place, usually packed with people organizing and sharing ideas, and local leaders meeting the people they serve. Before the pandemic, customers would hold knitting circles and book clubs. On Sunday afternoons, owner Millete Birhanemaskel, who is Ethiopian, decided to start doing a traditional Ethiopian coffee ceremony. She thought it would be a unique way to bring the neighborhood together while educating folks about the origin of coffee.
In 2015, when 17-year-old Jessica Hernandez was shot and killed by Denver police, Millete Birhanemaskel opened the doors of her Whittier Café in Denver’s Whittier historic neighborhood so that community members could gather and grieve.
“We are a social justice coffee shop, we’ve always been a gathering place for the community, a place that you’re coming to because you don’t know where else to go,” Birhanemaskel said in an interview with the Denver Post’s The Know. “[Closing during the pandemic] is really frustrating, because we can’t even gather together, mourn together. So how can we still have a voice in this without having a loud voice?”
Like for many small businesses around the country, the pandemic has been a huge strain on Whittier Café. Birhanemaskel didn’t qualify for Denver’s Coronavirus small business fund program, and after posting on Facebook in frustration about it, her loyal customers started sharing their government relief checks. This, along with the help of a small business loan, has enabled Birhanemaskel to keep Whittier Café afloat.
In addition to the usual coffee drinks, Whittier Café serves up African beer and wine, as well as pastries, burritos, and paninis. The shop also has a lending library and cozy patio. Overheard one day: “I come for love . . . good coffee is a bonus.”
Can’t make it into the shop or live far away? Donate to their “Justice Tab” to make sure no-one in the neighborhood goes without a hot cup o’ joe.
Please continue to shop local and support #blackownedbusiness!
Meanwhile, if you want to keep your coffee and tea hot (and who doesn’t?), drop by our website at www.koffeekompanions.com and check out our Koffee Kozee™ French press cozy, Kup Kap™ cup cover, Tea Tabard™ tea cozy, and Kup Kollar™ takeout coffee cup cozy. Also check out our Kream Kollar™ ice cream pint cozy. We’ve been taking coffee and tea drinkers (and ice cream eaters) to their cozy places since 1996!