After a Saturday stop at the farmer’s market, getting a coffee felt like a good
idea. Happily, Build Coffee is right next door, tucked into what feels like a secret backstreet (that’s hiding in plain sight).
The space is cozy & was buzzy with customers & conversation.
My oat milk latte was good (tho ouch!) it felt pricey at $7.50. There is a $1 up-charge for non-dairy milk & while it might seem benign, fundamentally, it really isn’t, as I think it (potentially) works as a barrier for customers to try something new, while simultaneously reinforcing dairy’s status quo position. The up-charge also affirms the (often false) notion that plant-based options are more expensive and, in a wider context, dairy as the default milk plays its part in maintaining the fictiveness that drinking the milk of a cow is a normal & good thing for a human being to be doing.
It seems like we’re in a time & place where things can be different. Why not make plant-based milk the norm, default, more affordable & accessible choice, while adding a steep up-charge for dairy? Then phase out dairy altogether? When you consider all of the real world implications & consequences, it truly makes sense.
Having said all that, I look forward to going back for the very occasional oat milk latte splurge & to check out their book selection.
Keep scrolling for a few interior pics and, a few city pics as I was driving home (at a complete stop/car in park/at a red light of course).
(hoping these pics might assuage some of your homesickness @danielgl )
From Build Coffee’s website:
We’re in the Experimental Station, a non-profit working to build independent cultural infrastructure on the South Side of Chicago.
#ditchdairy
#veganlatte
#chicago
#southside
