On Saturday, June 22nd, our friends and partners at Equator Coffees are opening their very first stand alone retail coffee bar at Proof Lab Surf Shop in Mill Valley, in the Bay Area’s beautiful Marin County. To celebrate, they’ll be serving free coffee and hosting festivities all weekend long, including an essential Saturday night Tiki party featuring DJ Sprudge! Pizza, fruity drinks, lost disco classics – the fun kicks off Saturday night the 22nd at 5pm.
For those unfamiliar with Proof Lab, it is the Bay Area’s largest skate and surf shop, a veritable “hang ten” shopping mall that sprawls across three buildings in the Tam Junction neighborhood of Mill Valley. Proof Lab boasts a massive skate park, all manner of art and ceramics studios, plus workshop spaces dedicated to board shaping and design and all manner of board-related retail, both skate and surf. A diverse array of events are held throughout the annual calendar at Proof, including surf camps, skate contests, taco nights, and art shows.
Apart from serving free coffee throughout their opening weekend, Equator will be offering samples from Beth’s Community Kitchen, Flour Craft Bakery, and Bushel Whole Blended Juices. The folks at Proof Lab will also be holding a RVCA sample sale – so if that’s your bag, discounted skate wear is definitely going to be available.
Long in the works, this first step into retail is a major move for Equator, a certified B corporation opened by Helen Russell and Brooke McDonnell in 1995. Their Colombia Cerro Azul Geisha AAA coffee took home the coveted Roasters Choice award at last April’s SCAA event in Boston, and their Ethiopia Watadera FTO was a 2012 Good Food Awards winner. We’ve come to know Equator through the truly remarkable and admirable work they’ve accomplished at Finca Sofia, in the Bugaba District of Panama’s Chiriqui province.
And it seems they’ve found a perfect partner in Proof Lab, a community-oriented social space with a pronounced bent towards sustainability and environmental responsibility. It’s also an important hub for North Bay youth culture, so you can only imagine who might be inspired by the specialty coffee service at Equator, whose picturesque cafe space and expansive outdoor patio was designed by Boor Bridges Architecture.
There is much more information about this event available on Facebook! And if you’re a prospective attendee who resides in the city of San Francisco, you should strongly consider contacting the event’s organizer Devorah Freudiger – there may be a way around those early Saualito ferry closing times.
We’ll see you there!
