8th Day Cafe

After Kalighat on Tuesday we stopped by 8th Day Cafe. We had been eyeing some merchandise there for some time: they have beautiful leather satchels/bags. We each bought one. More on this later.

Details on 8th day cafe. (Again, this is purely recollection of conversations). It is run by a couple from Arizona who moved here 5 years ago. They have an 8 year old son and a something-month-old son. They were in the coffee business back home, and actually own an 8th Day Coffee and Culture in Phoenix. As business folk they felt that the coffee market in America was saturated and researched where in the world they could be a part of an untapped coffee market. India was the place to go as India is heavily into the tea market, but coffee is new and, overall, isn't done well here. They moved here with their son, did research for a couple of years and grew this business.

It's a haven for us from horns, heat and spices. We like their a/c, and we love their food and coffee. We have tried most things on their simple menu but my go-to is the garden salad (with shredded beats, home-made hummus and dill dressing). It's also fun to have coffee once in a while (maybe three times in 5 weeks?). I'm not a coffee connoisseur, but I think their coffees are dang good.

We loved this cafe before and love it even more now. 

One afternoon earlier in the trip we were hanging out and playing Guess Who while waiting for our food. When eating we began chatting with Grant, the owner. We asked him a bajillion questions about how he got here, what to see in Kolkata and how he runs his business. I found the name interesting: he said it has a bit of a Christian sense to it in that the world was created in 7 days and on the 8th day, there was coffee; it was the next best thing. He also shared his vision for this cafe. He wanted to be ethical and responsible: his employees have pension and health benefits, a rarity in India small business. He is adopting the Eco-socially-just coffee shop philosophy here in India as well. The t-shirts his employees wear as uniforms are created at a local organization, Freeset (more on this in another post), who seek to train and employ women in sewing and screen printing as a means to leave the sex trade. And he sells leather products, which are created locally by The Loyal Workshop (more on this in another post) who run under the same philosophy as Freeset: to employ former sex trade workers. We quickly appreciated Grant, his cafe and his business associations even more.

As mentioned, we bought satchels. That evening as I was reading, Teresa was examining her satchel and found a name inside. She went online to find out more about her person. Clearly this led her to the Loyal Workshop website. I soon followed suit. Quickly we were both pumped by their philosophies and...everything about what they were doing. We were enthralled. We found out they allowed tours and we arranged one for Thursday afternoon. 

Back to 8th Day. In addition to being socially responsible, they also are promoting local artists. On our first visit on July 10, I was drawn to the charcoal sketches on the wall but didn't think much of them. When we returned the next time, and had seats closer so I had no option but to stare at them, I really fell in love. I decided I would buy some before leaving, but I did not commit to purchasing anything that day. When we returned 5 days later, the picture I was sure I wanted to buy was sold. I was disappointed. Clearly I really wanted it because I missed it and then went into "I'll do anything I can to get it" mode. We bought other pieces that evening (out of fear of losing them) and I also left a note for Grant, who we met five days earlier.

Note: we were told later that someone can in later that weening inquiring about one of the paintings we bought that evening and...there's another connection that you'll have to wait for.

I had picked up a business card and contacted Gunjan, the artist, that evening. Thankfully she replied and was willing to meet us the next day, Saturday. We left our little people schools a bit early and skipped out on Kalighat. We met with Gunjan and her friend for a couple of hours at 8th Day. The long and short of it is that she agreed to recreate the piece I longed for as well as some pieces we saw on her Instagram account. 

She is a young, passionate artist who works mostly with charcoal. She is personable yet an advocate. We are happy with the 6 pieces we're taking home (3 each) and are excited to send her pictures from Canada that she'll turn into charcoal masterpieces. Shameless plug: check out her profiles on Facebook and/or Instagram. Gunjan Daga.

The first piece I fell in love with that she recreated for me.

Back to 8th Day. We enjoyed their garden salads, cappuccinos, lattes, drip coffees, banana bread, shortbread, lemon drop cookies, bagel chips and salsa, granola and yogurt, wraps and cupcakes. Other than salads, most things we only had once. Tastes of home are good. We appreciate their philosophy on business and are thankful for their connections to Freeset, The Loyal Workshop and Gunjan Daga, the artist.