Coffee, Coffee, Everywhere, Let’s All Have A Drink
April 9th, 2008 by Brian Ries in Drink, Eating LocalI’ll a steaming hot cup of corrections, with a soy shout out and a side of apology:
- I mistakenly gave a wrong address for Kahwa Roaster’s new shop in last week’s paper. It’s on 2nd AVE. N, not 2nd St. N. My specific apologies go out to an irate woman who spent some pedal power trying to find the place on her bike. My bad.
- That piece also prompted a letter from Anne Vela, owner of Cafe Hey. Here’s what she said:
“Just to re-emphasize something I’m sure you know, an accepted localvore practice is to allow items that have been traded over the centuries from far distances, such as olive oil, some grains and also coffee. So Kahwa who yes trades its beans internationally, gets the seal of local approval.
As a plug for my own shop, Cafe Hey (through which I go through much effort to purchase locally traded and produced items as well as organic and fairtrade foods whenever I can) serves Sweetwater Coffee roasted in Gainesville, FL. Being that they are located within 200 miles of Tampa, it also counts as locally produced! Sweetwater Roasters is also currently certified USDA Organic by QCS and Florida Organic Growers, certified FairTrade by Transfair USA, Rainforest Alliance Certified, a participant in the Eco Q system, is Smithsonian Bird Friendly AND lastly is certified by Utz Kapeh!!!
They also roast some pretty damn fine coffee. Hope you’ll try it sometime.”
I will, Anne.
- Finally, in CL’s Urban Explorer issue a few weeks ago, I wrote the section on downtown St. Pete and referred to the Globe Coffee Shop as a “bohemian cafe.” Accurate, sure, but it’s also a tad inconsiderate to a little place a few blocks away called Cafe Bohemia (937 Central Ave., 727-895-4495). That shop also has an urban bohemian crowd, with good coffee, good beer and live music or DJs most weekend nights. Check it out and tell them I sent you to apologize for me.
August 4th, 2008 at 7:26 pm
Cafe Hey is terriffic. Found my self over there after reading this blurb and so I checked it out - loved it. The kind of charming and magical place everybody thinks of when the hear the words “neighborhood coffee shop”, and we all wish we had on our block, but alas, so rarely found. It has a great vibe and the kids that work there are upbeat, positive and friendly. Made me very happy. I will return !