As you have probably noticed, specialty coffee in the United States is undergoing a Renaissance. The Pacific Northwest has long been at the forefront of the coffee industry in the United States, pushing the envelope both in terms of technology and quality. The twin cities of Minneapolis and St. Paul have recently emerged as a national powerhouse, turning out large numbers of high quality baristi and roasters. Even here in the Northeast, New York City's specialty coffee scene has grown by leaps and bounds in the last five years.
In each of these locations, the existence of a supportive community surrounding specialty coffee was key to the burgeoning success of the local cafes and roasteries. I write to you today to suggest that we would do well to take steps toward cultivating a community of our own, right here in Providence, with the twin goals of advancing the level of coffee excellence in our fair city and providing a culture of support and inclusion across the board.
In pursuit of these goals, Todd Mackey of New Harvest Roasters and myself have, after many discussions over perhaps too many shots of espresso, decided to create the Providence Coffee Society. We envision the Providence Coffee Society to be a group which meets monthly in a casual but intentional manner, aiming to support our collective efforts to improve the coffee community in Providence.
We would like to invite you to join us in our inaugural meeting, to help outline the goals and ideals of the Coffee Society, and to meet your fellow Coffee Geeks. If we work together, we have nowhere to go but up.
If you will be in attendance or if you would like to be kept abreast of future meetings, please send us an email at Providence.Coffee.Society@gmail.com .
I hope to see you soon!
Simon A. Ouderkirk
Coffee Manager, Seven Stars Bakery
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