Student Council members serve coffee to an eager customer. PHOTO/Nina Tarnawsky ‘08

Choate’s Daily Grind, a student council-run coffee shop in Humanities Rotunda opened ahead of schedule, on Tuesday, to the delight of coffee and tea drinkers across campus.

After setting up for 20 minutes, student volunteers and the student council began to serve French vanilla, caramel and regular coffee, along with wild raspberry tea. Lauren Provini ’08, a sixth form Student Council representative who worked the table said compared to predictions, “It was a good turnout”. Over 100 students came to celebrate the opening of the café, generating 100 dollars in profit for an African welfare project. Coffee was distributed in eco-friendly cups, or students were allowed to bring their own mugs with an incentive. With four cups of coffee into a mug over the course of the year, students will be rewarded with a free cup. Jin Ha, Student Council president hopes “this encourages students to keep an eye on sustainability”.

“Compared to bake sales and others of the type, this was a raging success: the coffee was good, and I got free blueberry bread” one student said after being one of the first in line. Another commented, “the coffee was watery, and the free baked goods promised were gone by the time I arrived [10:00]” The same student was upset by the 15-minute wait. Michael Wysolmerski ’08 proposed a two-lined approach to reduce wait time “It would be good to have a senior express line, and then the regular underformer one”. M.E. Hawkins ’09 did not like this idea, as she said “I don’t want to watch a senior coast past me on my way to the coffee”.

For efficiency purposes, the student council hopes to add a couple more coffee makers, and possibly an espresso/cappuccino machine for added novelty. Provini said “we do have to take finances into account and make our decisions in coherence with our goal”.

The selection of coffee and teas was disappointing to some students, as they were reluctant to show. Jack Fallon ‘08, not a coffee drinker, was not happy with the tea variety. Alyssa Gruen ’09 agreed, “Who drinks raspberry tea anyways?” she exclaimed. Tom Guo ’09, a South African native, would love to see “South African tea, my favorite”, offered at the shop. Provini said in response, “if he is willing to donate it, we will serve it.” Another idea to limit costs is to ask for a donation of coffee from Choate alumnus Drew Reuben ’07, founder of Blue State Coffee. Fallon was not enthralled by this idea as he felt the name “Blue State Coffee” would make “the shop too political”.

Provini said there were measures taken to expand the selection and to reduce the queue time. “We want to add hot chocolate and other items for purchase to increase selction” Another idea proposed would be to join with other clubs and split profits between the club of the week and the student council’s African project.

The project Choate’s Daily Grind is benefiting was inspired by a recent welfare project initiated by three juniors: Bowen Kelley ’09, Andrew Kim ’09 and Miles Cozart ’09. The ultimate goal is to re-build a well in a disadvantaged Nigerian village with approximately 1000 inhabitants. “This territory is in significant need of a clean water source, and we hope to do our part to aid these people,” said Cozart. He went on to say “we are thrilled by the schools enthusiasm to our project.

The student council hopes to run the café during conference blocks through the year and beyond. Additions may include more food, more items, and less wait time. Provini says, “with a strong start, we hope our weekly donation will begin to proliferate as word circulates around campus.”