Category archives: Blue State Coffee news
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July 1st, 2008
Posted by Alex Payson at 9:34 am
A few days ago we sent out the following press release.
If you would like to learn more or have questions please contact us at alex@bluestatecoffee.com.
WIND-POWERED LATTES COME IN COMPOSTABLE CUPS
AT BLUE STATE COFFEE
Blue State Coffee, a socially responsible coffee company offering freshly roasted organic and Fair TradeTM coffee now offsets all its electricity use with 100% wind power. The café has also completed a successful experiment to test whether its coffee cups and other waste are commercially compostable, on its way to its goal of running a “zero-waste” business.
“We pay extra for 100% wind power through People’s Power & Light—but it turns out to be only the cost of one latte per day,” said Blue State Coffee Manager, Alex Payson. “If one more person comes into the shop because we’re green, it’s worth it.”
Being green also pleases the core market of the Thayer Street café, which markets itself (as its name suggests) as a progressive-friendly hot spot. The café promotes progressive politics through events at the coffee shop, donations to causes (determined by the votes of customers), and a commitment to Fair Trade and environmental progress.
“We’re thrilled that Blue State Coffee has chosen our 100% wind green power product for the café,” said People’s Power & Light spokesperson, Karina Lutz. “Blue State understands and promotes our mission to make energy sustainable and affordable in Rhode Island—so it makes sense they’d choose a nonprofit source that is as local as possible, like New England Wind Fund.” Like People’s Power & Light’s other green power product, New England GreenStart, New England Wind Fund only supports renewable resources connected to the New England electric grid. New England GreenStart is available to residential and small commercial electricity users who pay their own bills. But for larger electricity users and those who don’t pay their own bills, such as renters like Blue State, New England Wind Fund is the solution.
Brown University students, under the tutelage of Kurt Teichert, Lecturer and Manager of Environmental Stewardship Initiatives at Brown University, designed a zero-waste program for Blue State Coffee. Part of the plan is to phase in all compostable and biodegradable paper goods, such as the Eco Hot CupTM coffee cups from Eco-Products that the café currently uses. Composting is a way to turn food waste—such as coffee grounds and paper waste—back into humus, an essential component of healthy soil. “Composting is something everyone can do, and it’s almost as easy as signing up for green power,” said Teichert.
Working with RI’s Earth Care Farm, Blue State conducted a composting experiment—and found the paper products lived up to their promise: they can be made into a soil amendment suitable for organic farming. Once he finds a source for compostable cup lids, Payson intends to compost all the café’s waste. “Then Blue State Coffee will be the greenest café in the bluest state!” said Lutz.
“They are environmentally progressive—not just minimizing negative environmental impacts, but maximizing positive impacts,” added Teichert.
Blue State Coffee, is located at 300 Thayer Street, Providence, and on the web at www.bluestatecoffee.com. New England Wind Fund is available through the web at www.newenglandwind.org. New England GreenStart is available through www.ripower.org.
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Posted in General news, Blue State Coffee news, BSC in the press | 
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May 5th, 2008
Posted by Alex Payson at 12:30 pm
Besides providing our customers with the freshest, most ecologically sound, and tastiest cup of Joe, we are proud to be able to donate a portion of our sales every quarter to progressive local and national causes that we believe in. We currently are donating 10% of every purchase made in-store and on this website.
During the months of January through March we were able to donate another $10,000 to the following important organizations:
We have now donated over $40,000 since we starting selling coffee in September of 2006!
Thank you for your support, these organizations appreciate it.
Posted in General news, Blue State Coffee news, Our causes, Stores, Providence/Thayer St Store | No Comments »
April 17th, 2008
Posted by Alex Payson at 12:08 pm
This coming Saturday, April 19th Blue State Coffee is co-hosting an earth day/CD release party at the Blackstone in Pawtucket, RI. We were able to purchase energy credits through People’s Power and Light so we can run the entire event on New England wind power!
Several bands from the CD (you can check it out and listen to it here) will be performing as well as a couple guest artists. We will have copies of the CD for sale and several local environmental organizations will be on hand to tell you about their important work.
You can find directions to the Blackstone here.
Hope to see you there!
Posted in General news, Blue State Coffee news, Stores, Providence/Thayer St Store | No Comments »
April 3rd, 2008
Posted by Alex Payson at 6:31 am
From Tuesday, April 15, through Tuesday, April 22, 2008 the Providence community will be hosting a week long, interdisciplinary residency with film screenings, lectures, concerts and talk backs, honoring David Amram, esteemed American symphonic composer, conductor, multi-instrumentalist, author and pioneer of world music.
You can learn more about David Amram here.
We are proud to be hosting the following two events at our store:
Saturday, April 19:
1PM, Blue State Coffee, 300 Thayer Street, Providence
Screening of Elia Kazan’s The Arrangement, followed by Talk Back with Dr. Audrey Sprenger, Part II, In Reel/Real Time.
Sunday, April 20:
5PM, David Amram and friends at Blue State Coffee
300 Thayer Street, Providence
Road Diaries and Crisscrossing the Country, Chasing Cool
Readings and reflections by Dr. Audrey Sprenger and David Amram on their cross country trip re-tracing Kerouac’s journey of 50 years ago, from the Village Voice’s on-line commemoration of the 50th anniversary of the publication of Kerouac’s On the Road.
Followed by screening of Pull My Daisy, Beat classic short film with Kerouac, Ginsberg, Corso, Amram, and others.
7:00 PM Screening of Splendor in The Grass
followed by Talk Back with Dr. Audrey Sprenger, Part Three In Reel/Real Time.
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March 3rd, 2008
Posted by Alex Payson at 9:31 am
Last Friday February 29th we held an in-store primary at 300 Thayer Street simulating the RI presidential preference primary that is being held tomorrow.
Here are the results!
****************************
Democratic Primary (215 votes)
Barack Obama 76.3%
Hillary Clinton 23.7%
****************************
Republican Primary (21 votes)
Ron Paul 52.4%
McCain 42.8%
Huckabee 4.7%
Don’t forget to vote.
Posted in General news, Blue State Coffee news, Politics | No Comments »
February 29th, 2008
Posted by Alex Payson at 12:49 pm
Kal Penn (actor from The Namesake, Harold and Kumar, 24, House, and much more) stopped by Blue State Coffee yesterday February 28th, 2008 to talk on behalf of Barack Obama. He spoke to a very packed house for about 15 minutes then gave a lengthy Q and A session.
It was great to hear him talk about how he was moved to take action as a citizen, not because he was a celebrity or and actor, but because he really cared about the message that Barack was bringing.
You can check out a 2 minute excerpt from his talk by clicking here.
FYI- President Clinton is giving a talk this afternoon in Providence, and tomorrow Obama will be holding a rally at RIC midday. It is neat to be in the political spotlight here in RI for a few days!
And please vote.
Posted in General news, Blue State Coffee news, Politics | No Comments »
February 28th, 2008
Posted by Alex Payson at 9:51 am
Tomorrow, leap day 2008, we will be holding a one-day mock election simulating the Rhode Island primary that is being held this coming Tuesday, March 4th.
Stop by anytime at 300 Thayer St in Providence between 7AM-11PM to vote! We will be announcing the results on Monday the 3rd both in-store and here on the blog.
And in case you are a Rhode Island voter and do not know where to vote this coming March 4th- Just head on over to the voter information center to find out!
Posted in General news, Blue State Coffee news, Politics, Our causes | No Comments »
February 12th, 2008
Posted by Alex Payson at 8:13 am
We are very proud to announce the release of our first CD- A State of Blue!
A State of Blue is a compilation CD to benefit the Fund for Community Progress, a Rhode Island not-for-profit federation that raises funds for its 26 local member agencies.
Each of the 11 tracks on the CD is from a different Rhode Island band- offering a slice of local rock from the 80’s, 90’s and today.
The Providence Phoenix gave us a nice write up in their most recent issue- read it here.
It is available for purchase on our website, at our store on 300 Thayer Street and several music stores in the Providence area.
We will soon have a CD page up on our website were you will be able to samples from the CD- check back soon!
Posted in General news, Blue State Coffee news, Our causes, Stores, Providence/Thayer St Store | No Comments »
December 20th, 2007
Posted by Alex Payson at 12:47 pm
Google last week released an addition to their popular google maps program. Approximately 15 US cities now have street level images as seen from the roofrack of a google car that has been driving around U.S. cities.
Providence is lucky enough to be one of the first cities to have this feature released- so you can now visit Blue State Coffee at 300 Thayer St. in Providence and see exactly what our store looks like (well, exactly what it looked like in the middle of summer, we wish it was sunny and there was not a foot of snow outside the store right now…).
So just head on over to maps.google.com, type in “300 Thayer Street, Providence, RI 02906″, click on streetview, then click on the little yellow icon of a man and voila!
I am not going to get into the potential privacy issues that this raises- for now I will remain blissfully content to virtually wander the streets of Providence and imagine that it is summer and 80 degrees again!
Happy Holidays.
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December 3rd, 2007
Posted by Alex Payson at 12:26 pm
We have some fun events to invite you to over the next couple weeks!
1) Starting this Wednesday (12/5/07) we are hosting an Apeiron Institute CONSUME LESS workshop series. From the flyer:
“Do you know what your Ecological Footprint is? Are you ready to calculate and conquer your rate of consumption in the name of a healthier, more sustainable Rhode Island? Join the Apeiron Institute for Environmental Living at Blue State Coffee for an inspiring CONSUME LESS series. Work together in an interactive, supportive environment and learn what you can do to make a difference locally and globally. “
Running from 7:30-9PM both this Wednesday and next Wednesday (12/12/07), each night will cover a different important topic. Admission is free and all are welcome, so stop by 300 Thayer Street in Providence to check it out.
2) On Friday night we are having an art opening featuring Russian-born painter Elina Nanikova. Stop by around 7PM to meet the artist and see her work.
3) Next Wednesday’s CONSUME LESS topic will be a lecture/discussion on converting your vehicle to run on vegetable oil. This event is being led by the guys behind Green Grease Monkey. It should be a good time and informative to boot!
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