“Bringing fair trade coffee to everyone. Coffee, culture, and community.”
There’s a new coffee shop in town that is breaking new grounds. First of all, owners/sisters Alisa (a teacher) and Alicia (an accountant) Officer knew that they wanted to open up on the city’s East Side, but after a potential location on Fillmore fell apart three times, they almost shelved the project.
It was the principal at Alisa’s school who suggested looking at the 1375 Main Street location, which was in a building owned by Bethesda World Harvest International Church. After taking one step inside and seeing the vaulting tin ceilings, the sisters agreed that this was the place. Everything else that they had checked out “was a disaster,” except for this very promising vacant Main Street storefront. It was the last day of their search that they came across the soon-to-be café space… otherwise the project might never have happened.
And Buffalo is oh-so-very-lucky that it did happen. Not only are the sisters roasting their own in-house coffee, they are also adhering to the highest ethical coffee industry practices, which separates them from the rest of the pack. They opened in a food desert. The ethical harvesting of the coffee beans supports workers. The beans are organic and sustainably sourced. Alisa and Alicia are not only in it to win it, they are bringing everyone along for the ride. No one is being left out. No one.
“Finding this space was all thanks to Jesus and a lot of complaining,” said Alicia [laughing]. “We already had the roaster. We saw so many terrible spots. I told Alisa, ‘If we don’t find it today… we’re going to put the project on hold.’ When we saw the tin ceilings in this building [pointing], we said, ‘Thank you Lord!’ Now that we’re in the space, Tuesdays are for roasting and for chitchats. It’s the day that we get to discuss everything that we’re doing. Working with my sister is very intuitive.”
On this particular Tuesday – the day of my visit – the topic of conversation was farmer’s markets, which the sisters were having a hard time getting into. You see, typically only one coffee purveyor is allowed into a market – it’s a highly coveted spot. Alicia relayed their options, which seemed to be somewhat limited. But what I love about these two gals (other than their jovial nature) is their determination to succeed.
“Maybe we’ll start our own farmer’s market,” said Alicia. “We’ll call it #$*! Market [laughing]. One way or another, we will be part of a farmer’s market, even if we have to start a new one. We’re really into farmer’s markets, so it’s important to be in one.”
As Alicia and I were talking, Alisa walked in to the café.
I had already met Alisa a couple of weeks prior to this meet-up (chitchat). Since then, I was looking forward to capturing both sisters at once, to ask them about their mutual love for coffee, and to see how they would play off one another.
“Our grandmother!” they both said at once, in response to my asking about their addiction to coffee. “She introduced us to coffee at a very young age, even if she did water it down with milk [laughing]. We thought we were so cool. As we got older, there was always a coffee pot on. For us, it’s a form of communication – something that brings people together. We love to travel. Wherever we go, coffee is conversational and social. That’s what we wanted to bring to this area. To this food desert.”
“Originally it was just supposed to be a café,” said Alisa. “We were inspired by a trip to Rome and Paris – a trip that we took on a whim. It’s when our appreciation for coffee culture really kicked in, as did our palate. Then covid hit, just as we got back to Buffalo.”
“We decided to use the down time to control the bean,” said Alicia. “We taught ourselves how to roast ethically and according to taste. That’s how we began roasting in the shop.”
The bean that started it all. Unapologetic Coffee's signature single origin, 100% Arabica variety, 'I Said What I Said' sourced directly from sustainable harvested farms in Colombia.
Aside from the ongoing support of their host church, Alisa and Alicia told me that they got some help via M&T Bank’s ‘Innovation Lab’ for black and women-owned start-ups.
“We had nothing and they wanted us to pitch,” the sisters explained. “We came in second place!”
“With Alicia’s background in accounting, we wanted a bank that would be our partner,” said Lisa, with Alicia in steadfast agreement. “The bank is, now, making banking more accessible. They are working to change the narrative that banks aren’t for black people. They believed in our product and in us, and want to see us grow. We ended up receiving a $3000 grant – it was part of an M&T and Canisius pilot for black and brown voices.”
Most of us have heard of banks redlining communities, such as the East Side, which means that certain neighborhoods have not had equal access to the financial resources that they need to thrive. Well, it looks as if the times they are a-changin’.
Alisa and Alicia call it The George Floyd Effect. Positive things are finally starting to happen, although it took a number of tragedies to open people’s eyes – to make them understand that there were problems at hand that needed to be dealt with. These pervasive problems had been ignored – brushed under the rug. But now it seems as if we are finally starting to turn a corner. Black, indigenous, and people of color (BIPOC) are making some noise, and they’re getting noticed. The discussions are real. And so are the actions. This newfound realization and understanding that everyone deserves a fair shake is where the name Unapologetic Coffee comes from. When the sisters first started the business, they were asked if they wanted to put their faces on the brand.
“Hell yeah!” they said. “We’re unapologetically black! We never hide who we are. The brand speaks to so many people. It speaks to our pride.”
Lisa told me that the café has become a home-away-from-home for a number of people who would typically never venture into such a business, including a handful of her students. “They’ve never been to a place like this. They come here to study, because they say they can’t concentrate at home. It’s another reason that it’s so important to have a business like this in the neighborhood… on Main Street. Places like Burger King and McDonald’s give them half hour time limits – long enough to order and eat. Then they get kicked out. They have nowhere else to go, where they feel welcome. They come here, and it opens there eyes to the possibilities of what else might be out there that they have not come across. What else is out there?“
The more that I talked with Alisa and Alicia, the more the stark reality of the food desert came into play. During my first visit to the café, a guy walked in and said, “I don’t know what you’re serving here, but I want it. I can’t go to McDonald’s again this week.” For me, that really struck home. He walked out with a pastry that had been made from students at Emerson School Of Hospitality in Downtown Buffalo. The sisters are hoping to grow into more of a community cooperative, where other makers will join together. Power in numbers.
Once again, it’s all about the support network for Alisa and Alicia. It’s about the inclusivity that so many people take for granted. It’s the reason that they are always on the go. They are determined to make it work, in ways that they are still exploring. That’s why they are currently participating in a UB cultivator program. The more they learn about the business, their customer base, the products, the planet, and so forth, the more they can share with Buffalo.
Alisa and Alicia believe in paying a living wage. Their mailers are compostable. They recently switched to a local sticker company called 7onesticks (Buffalo skater owned and operated). And they wholeheartedly believe that the customer is #1. It’s one of the reasons that they make customized roasts for their wholesale customers.
“We’re hustlers,” the sisters told me. “We can make customized roasts for restaurants. We start with sample roasts, with our ‘baby roaster’ (yes, they have one of those too). Then we add customization to the bags – we call them collab bags.”
Is there anything that Alisa and Alicia don’t do?
“We don’t do K-Cups!” they shouted. “We do everything else. We even put directions on the back of our bags, so that everyone knows how to make a great cup of coffee.”
Did I mention that Alisa and Alicia got their start at The Broadway Market? Yes, the East Side pseudo-incubator market helped to get the sisters to where they are today. Now, they are determined to get their coffee into other markets – farmer’s markets, Wegmans… Braymiller? Buffalo is their oyster at this point. And they are two of Buffalo’s pearls.
Iced coffee anyone? Heirloom bean from Ethiopia with notes of vanilla, citrus, and orange blossom. Think black tea meets smooth. Try it with oat milk for a refreshing variation on a cool classic.
Aside from a weekly visit from their grandmother – Mary Hall – who led the sisters on their caffeinated journey, Alisa and Alicia told me that the next best part of their week is “Church” on Sunday. That’s when the preacher tells his flock to “go support the sisters at their café!” And they do. When church lets out, the café fills up with people that used to go home after service.
“It reminds us of why we did it,” agreed the sisters. “To give people a nice reliable place to go. This is the best place ever.”
Unapologetic Coffee | 1375 Main Street | Buffalo NY 14209 | (716) 768-5016 | unapologeticcoffee.us (for days and hours, and house selections) | Retail and wholesale | Restaurants and markets welcome! | Shipped nationally | In-house kiddie coffee (hot chocolate) available | “Le Petit Café” on weekends | Women and BIPOC-owned and operated
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