Living Room Coffee and Kitchen

Get Me Here Using Metro Transit

Living Room Coffee & Kitchen, located in Maplewood’s Green Dining District, is a family-owned sustainable coffee shop, coffee roaster, bakery, and lunch spot. Living Room uses only local, pasture-raised milk from Rolling Lawns for their coffee drinks and baked goods, and they only use local, pasture-raised eggs and chicken from Buttonwood. Living Room offers at least one Fair Trade certified coffee every day, ensuring the beans are grown with environmental considerations. They bake all of their own breads, scones, and #vegan pastries in house, reducing the amount of packaging and emissions it takes to have baked goods delivered. This is great news for the sustainably-minded diner, as local, pasture raised animal products have a far less harmful environmental footprint than their commodity counterparts.

Customers can save 50¢ by bringing their own to-go coffee cups for their caffeinated beverages; this cost-saving incentive also reduces waste, since paper coffee cups are never recyclable. The owners are always looking to reduce their plastic waste because, as part-owner Barry Larson explained, “I don’t want any of my stuff floating in the ocean.” Mr. Larson’s concerns about ocean-health and single-use plastics are valid; a significant portion of the 8 million tons of plastic trash that makes its way to our oceans every year begin as single-use plastic waste like straws and Styrofoam. Avoiding these plastics whenever possible can prevent the chance that a souvenir from your meal will harm an aquatic critter.

There are always vegan and vegetarian options available on their seasonally influenced menu. The staff is friendly and knowledgeable about recycling and composting customer food scraps, coffee grounds, and any kitchen food waste. Veggie scraps are composted, keeping organic material out of the landfill and preventing methane from entering our atmosphere. They reduce the amount of food waste generated by their restaurant in clever ways besides composting, like making treats in small batches and being okay with selling out of items.

Sustainability is incorporated throughout many of their operations. They have fully converted to LED lights, along with ceiling fans, and three separate thermostats in dining and kitchen areas to keep energy costs low.  Routine refrigeration maintenance and a high efficiency HVAC and furnace helps conserve energy.

Treat yourself to a house-roasted coffee, breakfast sandwich, or one of their new lunch items the next time you’re in Maplewood. You’ll enjoy the ambiance of their cute and comfortable dining area, (which comes decked out with coloring books and colored pencils), or take in the scenery on their patio. Oh, and they have a bike rack so feel free to ride in on one of the many connecting thoroughfares.