Carabello Coffee in Newport, Ky., is a philanthropic coffee shop and roastery owned by husband and wife Emily and Justin Carabello. As a craft coffee bar, they have all the latte art and pour-overs you'd expect, but they also do something unexpected — the business gives back by turning over a portion of their profits to third world coffee regions in Nicaragua and Kenya.
The couple had a vision for the shop in 2009, with the idea to start a company that would source coffee equitably and sell it to the U.S., investing the profits in sustainable initiatives in third world coffee communities. The Carabellos have visited these regions in Africa and Central America, sourcing their beans from coffee farms and helping the community by doing outreach and raising money for an orphanage in Nicaragua, where some of the world’s best coffee is grown. The kickstarter campaign Carabello just launched is not only aimed at helping Carabello itself expand, but also expand the amount of good they can do. Their goal is to eventually be able to give away $100,000 a year.
With a kickstarter goal of raising $40,000 (the city of Newport will kick in $15,000 if they spend $30,000 themselves), the money will assist the shop in doing renovations to expand to include a coffee training lab (for baristas and members of the public), a community event space and a slow bar, for true coffee geeks. The slow bar will be the first in the city and showcase alternative brewing methods that don't work in a faster-paced environment.
To learn more or to back the Carabellos, visit their kickstarter project here.
