Start Your Own Coffee Club
There are book clubs, social clubs, collecting clubs and wine clubs. And there is definitely no reason why you can’t also develop your own coffee club to share the delights of coffee with friends, neighbors and acquaintances who also share your love of coffee. Here are some suggestions to help you start your own coffee club.
1 Decide on where your club will exist. Unless you’re a very generous benefactor, it’s likely you won’t have a clubhouse or member’s rooms, so as with a book club, consider having the coffee club rotate between member’s houses. You can also benefit from visiting cafes and coffee part of the meeting circuit, which is a great way to get out and about and enjoy yourselves.
2 Start collecting some good books on coffee. Look for books that detail the history, the manufacturing process, the methods for making coffee and coffee recipes. All sorts of books about coffee exist, so have a search through online sales for ideas. These books will serve as a source of information for members to prepare information sessions, write newsletters, decide on events to hold, etc.
Offer to house the books and materials to begin with but be ready to institute a lending system as the club grows stronger.
3 Find members. Ask people you know love coffee and that you enjoy spending time with first. As time goes on, they’ll invite more people to join. Initially you might want to waive any fees and rules but these are things to consider for covering costs and keeping things clear once the club is more certain.
4 Hold the first meeting. At this meeting, discuss the sorts of things you’d like to do as a club, plus any grand goals such as tours of coffee regions of the world (it can’t hurt to dream large from the start). Have new members suggest what they’d like to do and have a list of prompts to help guide the conversation. Things that the club might like to do include:
Taste different coffees each meeting
Do blind tastes for fun
Try cooking with coffee and sharing the results with everyone
Publishing a club newsletter with coffee tips and information
Get bulk discounts on coffee purchases as a club
Visit local cafes to enjoy different coffee styles
Read or discuss information about coffee within each meeting
Plan a tour of a coffee region in a year or so.
5 Keep good records of membership so that you can notify everyone of upcoming meetings and send out newsletters etc. Once the club becomes more formalized, elect position holders who are responsible for various aspects of running the coffee club.
6 Meet regularly and keep aiming to grow the club. Ensure that all members are getting something out of belonging to the club and it’ll endure for a long time.
