Baristas Are Doin' It For Themselves At This New Women-Owned Hoboken Coffee Pop-Up

HOBOKEN, NJ — When Hoboken coffee shop Hudson Coffee closed two months ago, longtime barista Wendy Benitez and artist Estela German — the latter of whom used to sell her paintings and children's art kits in the shop — took matters to the streets.

Just around the corner, they found an alcove outside the Hoboken Historical Museum, where German teaches weekly art classes to kids. The museum president, Bob Foster, said they could set up shop there.

Now, the pair have a pop-up coffee and art shop among the brick walls, conveniently perched in front of a giant historical poster of the former Maxwell House Coffee plant in Hoboken, which closed in 1992.

The pair plan to give away coffee this coming Friday from 8 to 10 a.m. for International Coffee Day (Wednesday was National Coffee Day). They'll also offer buy one, get one free on specialty drinks.

The pair sell coffee and a variety of specialty drinks, as well as German's artistic stylings, some of which have a coffee theme. They also feature products from other area small businesses, several women-owned, such as a cake pop maker.

Best of all, because they get to use the space, they give some of their profits to the Hoboken Historical Museum, Benitez said.

Benitez, who started as a barista at Starbucks 15 years ago and also has worked for Dunkin' Donuts, encourages local residents to support small businesses and Hoboken's many small coffee shops.

"There are so many great local coffee shops," Benitez said Wednesday. "People should shop locally."

In fact, a recent study by a sleep products company Zoma Sleep found that Hoboken was the city in New Jersey with the second-highest ratio of coffee shops to consumers. Hoboken has 33 coffee shops and a population of 53,081 at last count, which means 1,608 people per shop. READ MORE: Hoboken Is Second Most Obsessed 'Coffee Town' In NJ

Benitez and German's shop, Not Your Regular Coffee, is open Wednesday through Friday from 8 a.m. to 2 p.m. and Saturday and Sunday from 9 a.m. to 4 p.m., as of now.

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