Blue State Coffee to open first store on Thayer
Helen Mou
Issue date: 2/22/07 Section: Metro
Blue State Coffee, a locally sourced coffee company that identifies itself with the Democratic Party, is slated to open its first location at 300 Thayer St. in May or early June.
With the motto "Drink Liberally," Blue State, which currently only sells ground coffee online, intends to add a political twist to the regular college coffee joint. The company donates half of its profits after taxes to causes that "reflect Democratic values," according to the company's Web site, and pledges to continue to do that for its coffee shops.
"We're pretty unapologetically liberal," said co-founder Bridie Clark. She said the company has two missions. "One is to serve really great, fairly traded organic coffee, and the other is to fund important, progressive causes. It's kind of a unique business model in that we are overtly political," Clark said.
Blue State determines where their donations go by customer preference. After every online purchase, customers can vote for one of four "Democratic" organizations. Blue State will then distribute portions of its donation based on the percentages of customers who vote for each organization.
At present the National Even Start Association, a family literacy program whose funding was completely cut in President Bush's 2007 budget proposal, leads with almost 40 percent of the vote this quarter. It is followed by a general fund for Democratic candidates and organizations, Disabled American Veterans and the World Resources Institute.
Blue State's organic, fair-trade coffee comes directly from New Harvest Coffee Roasters in Rumford - just 3.3 miles away from the Thayer Street location. They will serve Rhody Fresh milk, a variety of cheeses from New England farms and baked goods and bread from Seven Stars Bakery.
Blue State's cocoa will come from Omanhene Cocoa Bean Company of Ghana, which guarantees "slave-free" chocolate by using cocoa grown on local family-owned cocoa farms, according to the company's Web site.
With the motto "Drink Liberally," Blue State, which currently only sells ground coffee online, intends to add a political twist to the regular college coffee joint. The company donates half of its profits after taxes to causes that "reflect Democratic values," according to the company's Web site, and pledges to continue to do that for its coffee shops.
"We're pretty unapologetically liberal," said co-founder Bridie Clark. She said the company has two missions. "One is to serve really great, fairly traded organic coffee, and the other is to fund important, progressive causes. It's kind of a unique business model in that we are overtly political," Clark said.
Blue State determines where their donations go by customer preference. After every online purchase, customers can vote for one of four "Democratic" organizations. Blue State will then distribute portions of its donation based on the percentages of customers who vote for each organization.
At present the National Even Start Association, a family literacy program whose funding was completely cut in President Bush's 2007 budget proposal, leads with almost 40 percent of the vote this quarter. It is followed by a general fund for Democratic candidates and organizations, Disabled American Veterans and the World Resources Institute.
Blue State's organic, fair-trade coffee comes directly from New Harvest Coffee Roasters in Rumford - just 3.3 miles away from the Thayer Street location. They will serve Rhody Fresh milk, a variety of cheeses from New England farms and baked goods and bread from Seven Stars Bakery.
Blue State's cocoa will come from Omanhene Cocoa Bean Company of Ghana, which guarantees "slave-free" chocolate by using cocoa grown on local family-owned cocoa farms, according to the company's Web site.