A volunteer group called the Houston Coffee Collective is aiming to bring different opportunities to the city's coffee scene.

The company’s slogan: "where coffee people meet."

How it started

The Collective was founded in early 2018 by Anita Tam, owner of Slow Pour Supply, a specialty coffee tools company in Magnolia.

Asia Anderson, acting executive director of community culture for the Collective, said Tam had just moved to the Houston area and wanted to find a community of like-minded professionals. She found what she was looking for with local coffee shop owners.

Anderson said the small group eventually started posting events and inviting more people until it expanded into what the Collective is today—a welcoming space where people can talk about about and bond over their shared love for coffee.

How it’s going

Today, Anderson said the Collective retains the same values upon which it was founded and continues to reach out to engage the Greater Houston area community.

The Collective hosts monthly events that include latte art competitions, social events and educational classes.

Anderson said social events fall under the Coffee Plus Program, which seeks to connect coffee to other interests and hobbies. Past social events have involved exploring the combination of coffee and pickleball, games and book parties.

More details

The Houston Coffee Collective also provides a number of community resources on its website, such as a non-comprehensive list of coffee-related job postings and a map of coffee shops in and around the Greater Houston region.

Volunteers for the Collective visit a different locally-owned coffee shop every Tuesday. Anderson said visits often involve trying drinks, taking photos and learning about the company.

The Collective will later assist the shop by advertising their events, posting job listings and sharing the connection.

“Honestly, that’s the most exciting part for me,” Anderson said. “It’s just about connection [and] letting coffee shops know that we are there for them in any capacity. It’s just a matter of them coming to us and asking for what they need.”

The Coffee Map shows approximately 180 coffee shop and it covers around a 50-mile radius from the center of Houston, extending toward Galveston, Katy, Conroe and Humble.

Anderson said she knows of at least one volunteer from the Collective who has personally visited 98 of the 180 shops listed.

The future

Officials running the Houston Coffee Collective said they are looking to take their volunteerism to the next level by applying for a nonprofit designation. Anderson said the designation would help the Collective to not only grow in the community, but to be able to give back.

“Having that designation will help us remember what our roots are and continue to be able to embrace what we get from the community and then put it back out into the community,” she said. “We want to be additive in whatever ways we can.”

Having a nonprofit designation, Anderson said, would make it easier for the group to apply for grants, get sponsorships and form partnerships. Collective officials want to expand beyond events and local contests to add a barista education program, create a scholarship program and participate in global competitions.

Anderson said they are hoping to receive their official designation by the end of 2025.