The 193 Coffeehouse is a quirky, creative and cozy environment for faculty and students to enjoy coffee while getting work done. Photo by Sarah Michaud.
The Coffeehouse is non-profit and has been a URI staple since the ‘90s
“The entire message of the Coffee House is to provide a contemporary, friendly space for people of all diverse backgrounds, positions and ages and have coffee and congregate.”
These are the words of Benjamin Riggins, a long-time staff member of the 193 Student Coffeehouse, the nonprofit organization that has been selling dollar-priced coffee out of the Memorial Union since the mid-1990s.
Along with their signature $1 coffees, the 193 Student Coffeehouse sells mochas, lattes, chai and hot chocolate. They get all their beans from New Coffee Harvest Roasters, a fair trade company in Providence. If a customer wants a coffee beverage that is not being sold, they can push for the coffeehouse to start selling it. The Coffeehouse has added different types of beans and materials at the request from professors and students who frequent the shop.
Because the 193 Student Coffeehouse is a nonprofit organization which is not recognized by Student Senate, the net profit that comes through the cash register everyday is low.
The profit goes towards stipends, which are divided between the 15 to 20 staff members. Their paychecks are usually around $30 a month. However, according to Megan Lancaster, a barista and sophomore international studies and diplomacy major, money is not the force behind her employment.
“I love the atmosphere here,” said Lancaster. “Everyone is doing their own thing but you can also have very meaningful conversations. We can play whatever music we want and we have funky decor. It’s very quirky.”
Riggins has been coming to the coffeehouse since 2015 and has been employed since 2017. He discovered the Coffeehouse through a friend and fell in love with the home he found within the organization.
“I found other people that were in this discipline that I was completely unfamiliar with, and I became friends with them,” said Riggins. “I became part of this community. I enjoyed the music, the atmosphere, the cheap coffee of course, and ever since then I have taken a personal interest in maintaining this space for as long as possible, so we can keep this community going.”
The interior walls are covered in student submitted artwork and flyers. Students who wish to have their art displayed on bulletin boards in the Coffeehouse simply have to ask the worker on duty at that time. According to Riggins, 99 percent of the time they will say yes.
Before the Memorial Union underwent renovations a couple of years ago, the Coffeehouse’s walls were covered in student art. The amount of art on the walls was considered a fire hazard so it was taken down and organization had to invest in large boards to hang student art on. Riggins said that the decoration is not what it used to be but he is hopeful that with more submissions will restore the original artistic atmosphere.
The Coffeehouse holds different types of events in their space as well, such as open mic nights, band nights, poetry slams and more. Almost any student group can book the space so long as they are approved by the events coordinator, Olivia “Liv” Ferreira.