Buffalo Rising Online

May 28th 2007, 9:01pm By queenseyes

I started drinking coffee about two years ago. Ever since, I have tried to find different places around the city to stop, sit and sip. That’s why I always enjoy finding a new hidden place… it doesn’t happen all the time. The other day we were checking out some properties on the East Side when Monika Thompson from Realty USA suggested stopping into EM Tea Coffee Cup Café. “The what?” I asked. She repeated what she had said and we headed off to see what sort of a place she was referring to.

When we pulled I jumped out of the car and looked around. I had never seen this business before even though I had driven nearby countless time. It was a stone’s throw from Humboldt Parkway and Canisius College. The well-kept brick building sat on the corner of Oakgrove and Hughes, and though I had taken many photos of those streets, I had always turned around before reaching the intersection.

The interior of the café was warm and inviting. Hundreds of coffee cups hung on the walls - each one telling a different story from the travels of a customer who brought the cup to share with Kat and her café. Kat Tyler, the café owner, started her business seven years ago to offer her neighbors an out-of-the-way place to gather and enjoy good food and coffee. During those seven years Kat and her son, Sterling Lee (photo), have nurtured the business by creating a destination that is many different things to many different people. The EM Tea Coffee Cup Café also has some of the best smoothies in Buffalo.

EM Tea is an eatery too… it’s also a live poetry venue… and a place to read… or watch the news. There are unearthed tin ceilings overhead, and a spattering of randomly placed old photos depicting Humboldt Parkway as it was long ago (pre-The Scar). Every Tuesday evening poets gather to participate in readings (hosted by James Cooper III) or, for those less inclined to participate in group-activities, there are books available for reading (inquire about the book club meetings). The owner occupied building won a 2004 Buffalo Preservation Board Award from The City – the plaque hangs proudly by the front door. Everything about the place is conducive to comfort and cuisine– I tried the chicken salad on a croissant for $3.50 and a small peach mango smoothie for $3.00. Both selections were superb.

The café has every coffee concoction under the sun. It also prepares salads, breakfast sandwiches, desserts, milkshakes, and platters while offering catering, specials, sugar and caffeine-free options, drink cards and a networking board. Apparently Kat and her family went all out when it came to inventing an attractive and fully functional café.

What amazes me most about this successful seven-year old business is the location. When I took e a close look at the photos inside, I was awe-struck at the images. There were four photographs (originals found at Historical Society) featuring “The Death of Humboldt Parkway”. The series is one that I had never seen before – I never imagined that the present day (The) Scar had been so beautiful. The first shot captured the stretch back in 1890 – the caption reads “Speedway for horse and sleigh”.

The second photo in the series shows a more manicured tree-lined boulevard, dating back to 1915.

The third shot ‘heralds’ the age of freeways - the trees were hacked down to bare stumps (1960).

And the fourth photo depicts a decimated, totally stripped wasteland as it readies itself for vehicular traffic and the Kensington Expressway.

The transformation from The Parkway to The Scar is sickening to see (in the photos), as it ripped neighborhoods (and a city) in half.

The series of events reminded me of the children’s book (for the life of me I can not remember the title) where a planet is over-polluted and left to die by ‘A Visiting Race’. The planet is so resilient that after the visitors leave a plant is found (by the original inhabitants) breaking through the asphalt of an abandoned road. The original inhabitants are left to live in a world that must heal itself over time. I can’t help but think that Kat’s Café is like that seed that sprouted after ‘The Visitors’ disappeared.

The EM Tea Coffee Cup Café is located at 80 Oakgrove Avenue in Buffalo. Their number is 716-884-1444.