Since The Kitchen Café at the Hartford Public Library opened two summers ago, it has been critiqued for two things: limited hours and pricing. With the exception of opening for special events, the hours have not expanded. A new initiative, however, will begin to address the feeling that coffee at this location is off limits to some of the library’s most dedicated patrons.
The Kitchen, part of Billings Forge Community Works, is joining the “suspended coffee” movement, or caffè sospeso. This means that people who can afford to may purchase extra coffee for those who can not. Patrons who can not afford to purchase their own will be given a free cup of coffee during business hours, Monday-Friday, 8-4.
While some have dismissed this movement as being impractical, the volume at this cafe is less than the typical Dunkin Donuts or Starbucks. Others have questioned how coffee is a necessity, seemingly taking the position that unless someone requires it to physically survive, then that individual should not be given access to it. Such a stance, also, ignores that coffee is its own food group.
What this can do is open up an entire section of the Hartford Public Library to patrons who may just want to engage in a normal activity: chatting with friends over coffee.