After nearly a year operating as a roasting-only operation, Queer Wave Coffee is looking to create a cafe space. The brainchild of Cheyenne Xochitl Love—whose two-plus decades in the specialty coffee industry includes time with Bellwether, #CoffeeToo, Bay Area CoRoasters, the Matchbook Coffee Project, and as a member of the Roaster’s Guild Executive Council—Queer Wave Coffee is looking to create a communal cafe space in Oakland, California, and Love has taken to Kickstarter to seek funding.
Much like with Queer Wave Coffee, Love wants the cafe space to be communal but not all-inclusive. Per the Kickstarter, the cafe will not be a place for “transphobia, homophobia, queerphobia, racism, jerks, fatphobia, patriarchy, capitalism, law enforcement and the like.” Instead, they will focus on “intentionally serving an underrepresented community,” with “QTPOC folx to the front.”
Love seeks to do this outside of and rethinking “how ‘business’ is performed in a capitalist society.” This means no bank loans or investors in the traditional sense, who “only lend for profit.” Thus Love has taken to Kickstarter to bring the Queer Wave cafe to life.
With a goal of $100,000 Love will use the campaign funds all aspects of opening a cafe, including but not limited to: a lease, coffee machines, furniture, signage, permits, insurance, worker’s wages, and green coffee purchasing. At the time of publication, there are 22 days remaining in the campaign, with just over $90,000 left to raise.
Here’s more on the mission of Queer Wave’s cafe from the Kickstarter:
Together, we can create new ways of living, doing business, and thriving. We can challenge the systems that leave us feeling void, bereft, and alone. We can build community and belonging. By manifesting this endeavor (referred to in colonized society as a “business”), we can break conventional paradigms, we can show how “business” should be rightfully people-centered.
Together we can manifest an endeavor that will transform how we consume and live.
Together we can strip away what has been built to sustain oppressive systems meant to coerce and control.
We can live with integrity and transparency.
We have to take action.
We cannot do this alone. We need each other to shift this old paradigm into a better tomorrow. It will not happen without you, without community.
Thank you for your support,
Cheyenne Xochitl Love – (She/Her) Indigenous Two-Spirit Non Binary Trans Girl
To help incentivize donations, Queer Wave is offering multiple backer rewards tiers, ranging from $25—which will get you a Queer Wave sticker and a thank you note—all the way up to $10,000 and its perks that include an in-person roasting class taught by Love as well as cuppings, swag, and a year-long custom Queer Wave coffee roast.
For more information or to donate, visit the Queer Wave Coffee Kickstarter page.
Zac Cadwalader is the managing editor at Sprudge Media Network and a staff writer based in Dallas. Read more Zac Cadwalader on Sprudge.
