You’ve seen the posters, who is Café Tintamarre?
This small local business is pursuing sustainability every step of the way.
A cozy study spot for students, a gathering place for Sackville residents, and a welcoming stop for road-trippers, Café Tintamarre is a small, locally owned café at the heart of the Tantramar community in the Sackville Visitor Centre. Known for its espresso and fresh baked goods, it brings people together, promoting connection and sustainability.
The Cafés location in the Sackville Visitor Centre was opened by Alice Cotton and Peter Stephenson two years ago. The owners expanded from their previous Sackville Farmers Market booth they started in 2020. Now selling espresso coffee and their home roasted beans in a 200 square foot permanent location overlooking Waterfowl Park. Cotton is a long-term resident of 30 years while her partner Stephenson moved to Sackville around five years ago.
The Café serves as a weekend get together space for community members. Having been there myself on many Saturday mornings, it is filled with local residents sipping a beverage and having a lively conversation. There is seating at the red tables in the small cafe area, or on one of the many couches and chairs located in the rest of the cozy Visitor Centre. As a midway between Nova Scotia, New Brunswick, and Prince Edward Island, it is an important stopover location with electric vehicle charging stations located outside. The Café gives incentive to people passing through to stop in, slow down, and drink a coffee while they wait for their cars to charge.
The Visitor Centre-Café is a breath of fresh air to the previous function of the building as an unofficial storage space with some tourism brochures. The couple’s modest buildout transformed the interior to make the Sackville Visitor Centre a much more efficiently used and welcoming space. Pete expanded on their environmentally friendly buildout process, saying “the transformation inside the building [was done] with as little impact as possible.” Pete talked more about their used building materials, saying “we bought cupboards from a Bell Alliant store closing down in Digby.” The up-cycling of old materials and eco-friendly mindset comes naturally to Cotton and Stephenson. The owners describe their business as “small, local, and fresh,” with second hand or refurbished equipment, recyclable and simple packaging, and all locally sourced beans. Stephenson called the small local business model “manageable, on a human scale.” Satirically naming it an “upscale Easy-Bake Oven.” Two individuals with climate consciousness deeply integrated into their daily lives; their sustainable business model was a no-brainer.
In their roasting and espresso making process, this same philosophy is taken. Stephenson advises “being frugal frugal is a great way to be sustainable. [It’s about] asking how can I use less and keep costs low?” He elaborated on this saying, “we found a second-hand electric roaster off facebook marketplace, [and at our cafe] the machinery we use is incredibly durable, a 20-year-old espresso maker.” To elongate the lifespan of these hearty machines, Stephenson refurbishes and fixes them himself when problems arise.
In addition, sourcing locally is at the core of what Stephenson and Cotton do. In structuring their coffee bean roasting business, the couple cited “keeping [it] as close to home, in our backyard, as possible.”. The owners reduce transportation emissions through acquisition, saying “we can make it by being local, truly local.” The couple raved about sourcing their free trade, organic, and more sustainably shade grown beans from JustUs coffee, when asked about sourcing anywhere else, Cotton said “there’s no point. [We are] not going to get beans from some distance. JustUS is fair trade and organic. JustUS is exceptional in that way.”
Their paper packaging is also sourced within Canada. With their modest roasting capacity ensuring their beans on the shelf are always fresh, a service grocery store coffee beans can not always boast. Their sustainability extends past local acquisition and used materials; the couple has socially engineered their business to support community solidarity within Tantramar. The business serves as more than a spot to get a caffeine fill for the day, it is a location that encourages community engagement by posting local events, fosters connection as a space to socialize in, and promotes slowing down in an increasingly fast-paced world. Community solidarity is becoming an increasingly important cementing force to maintain collective strength in the face of economic, social, and environmental instability and change. Stephenson expanded on the importance of social connection, saying, “A superpower of humans is communication and community. Coffee is a lubricant of that [and], sustainability can be just slowing down.” In the wise words of Stephenson, “you cannot go fast when you are carrying a hot beverage.”