Liberal Java to Jolt Wall Street

The type of coffee coming to New Haven’s Wall Street might provide a different kind of jolt: a progressive one.

Yale has apparently secured, as the new renter of 82B-84 Wall St., the Blue State Coffee Company of Providence, R.I. They are a do-good-while-you-do-well business that provides 10 percent of their profits of your lattes to progressive causes. Click here to access their site.

Blue State has trademarked the line ​“Drink Liberally,” so that you not only can drink their coffee, but propose your favorite non-profit to be the beneficiary. The company was begun in 2006 by Drew and Marshall Ruben.

The New Haven outlet will be Blue State’s second store, the original being on Thayer Street in Providence, not far from Brown University. Although final approvals have not been secured, the store is already being advertised on Blue State Coffee’s site.

Yale has combined three former unsuccessful store spaces on Wall Street to make one 55-seat coffee restaurant. On Tuesday night, the Board of Zoning Appeals took the first formal step toward approval. In that instance it was for a blade sign to attract Democratic caffeine lovers.

Because the sign is in the public way, approval is required, ultimately by the Board of Aldermen. Blue State’s attorney, Sheldon Crosby, will be back before the BZA also to secure a special exception and a use variance. The use variance is because the 1800 square feet of the combined space exceeds the limit in the zone for a convenience-type use. And the special exception is because parking is usually required for such an establishment, and there is none available.