Cribstone Coffee is a family affair.
Behind the counter of a converted horse trailer outside the Harpswell Realty Group building, Braxton Jarratt and his two children, Quinn and Julia Jarratt, are bringing fresh-brewed espresso to Orr’s Island.
The coffee is even free — and for a good cause. The Jarratts accept donations, which go back into the community through the Harpswell Santa Fund, helping locals in need with clothing, toys and home heating fuel.
Every day since opening on June 30, the Jarratt family has been serving up creative coffee drinks from 8 a.m. to noon. Locals and vacationers alike have flocked there to receive their daily cup.
The menu features drinks such as maple lattes, a blueberry French toast chai, and the “whitecap,” a unique blend featuring Monster Energy drinks.
The Jarratts have spent their summers on Bailey Island for almost a decade. Braxton grew up in Brunswick before moving to Atlanta. He found a place on the island because he wanted his kids to have a connection to Maine. However, he found himself driving into Brunswick many mornings just to find espresso.
When his kids were in search of summer jobs, they came to him with an idea. They wanted to open a local coffee cart. Within a month, Cribstone Coffee was up and running.
When Braxton started exploring options to purchase and license a cart, the process was daunting. One day, he was hiking in Tennessee when he ran into a couple, got to talking, and found out they owned a coffee shop and were trying to open a cart.
They had found a cart and knew the ins and outs of the coffee business, but they needed money to get started. Braxton offered them the money and paid them to bring the cart to Maine and train his family to run it. As an added benefit, he would show them the state of Maine for the first time.
Then came the issue of where to put the cart. A local friend of Braxton’s, Lee Theberge, allowed them to run it from his home, but other local businesses took issue with their operation.
“Normally, the coffee community is very collaborative,” Braxton said. “There’s no reason to be cutthroat in that business.”
Braxton said that, on the whole, he has received an abundance of community support from local vendors. Reverie Coffee House in Brunswick, which started as a cart, gave him a syrup that he was having trouble replacing. Moses Dyer Coffee Roasters in Harpswell dropped off samples of its coffee for his family to use.
While Cribstone Coffee started with one of Braxton’s favorite beans, Intelligentsia Coffee’s Black Cat espresso from Chicago, he wanted to find a local source instead. That’s when he found out a neighbor across the cove, Bob Garver, was the founder of Wicked Joe Organic Coffees and Bard Coffee in Portland. Now, Cribstone Coffee uses beans from Bard.
“That’s one thing about a coffee shop: It is a social thing,” Braxton said. “You’re encouraged to linger. Everybody’s chatty. I’ve probably met 15 local, year-round people that I probably never would have met.”
Cribstone Coffee is collecting fans in the Harpswell community. Sometimes a line of customers waiting for their morning coffee snakes through the parking lot.
Braxton said that in the first week alone, the family raised about $1,000 for the Santa Fund. As of the second-to-last week in July, the total was about $4,000.
“We definitely get more than what you would charge,” Braxton said about the donation-based system. “Most people are just putting more (money) in than they would. And so it’s been awesome to see the generosity and the support of that.”
Because the family donates 100% of the proceeds, Braxton pays his kids’ wages himself so they can save money for college. His youngest, Quinn, is headed off to the University of Utah in the fall, while his daughter, Julia, is going to be a senior at Georgia Southern University.
In the small interior of the coffee cart, Quinn and Julia operate as a well-oiled machine, frothing and pouring milk, brewing espresso and mixing drinks.
Braxton’s background is in engineering, but he spent much of his career as a CEO in the technology sector. Wanting to work for a better cause, he recently left his job to start a new tech company and fund that donates 50% of its profits to various causes he supports.
That’s why the Santa Fund appealed to him when he was looking for a local cause for the donations to Cribstone Coffee.
“It’s a good cause, and it’s local, which is important to us,” Braxton said. “It’s a safety net for things that humans should be helping humans do.”
Braxton recently became a full-time resident of Harpswell and is working toward finding a year-round storefront for Cribstone Coffee to inhabit. He also hopes to switch to a nonprofit model in the future.
“If it’s self-sustaining and people are paying, and then we’re paying a good wage and buying the best beans and equipment, then the business grows and then the profits from the business can go toward causes,” Braxton said. “I would like to see some of these causes not have to worry about fundraising constantly.”
Cribstone Coffee can be found at 1845 Harpswell Islands Road on Orr’s Island.
