Carissa Duhamel Photo
The Jitter Bus’s Andrew Mesiouris parks outside the Happiness Lab.
A new bus company pulled up in downtown New Haven offering caffeine rushes, not rides.
The vehicle is called the “Jitter Bus.” Three local men spent a year outfitting the bus to serve as a mobile café.
Founders Dan Barletta, Paul Crosby and Andrew Mesiouris plan to park the bus at locations throughout the city.
They parked it on Chapel Street this past Friday night to hold a launch party in conjunction with the Happiness Lab at the Grove.
The Jitter Bus brews coffee from three different Connecticut-based roasters: Sacuzo Coffee, Give Coffee and, of course, A Happy Life, the brand made at the Happiness Lab — and the only brand for sale at the launch party. The event featured live music from five local bands, including Forest Room, Danny Henry, Ed Peccerillo, Kindred Queer and Heavy Breath.
Katie Johnstone Photo
Ed Peccerillo playing flamenco guitar solo at the opening.
The event was BYOB, meaning guests were able to bring their own alcohol with them to drink throughout the night.
Carissa Duhamel Photo
The Jitter Bus founders began their work in February 2015 after purchasing a short school bus with the money raised through a Kickstarter campaign. The three were able to raise $5,260 with the help of 43 backers on the crowdfunding website.
Crosby, a 24-year-old West Haven native, got the idea for a coffee shop on wheels in August 2014 after watching an ice cream truck drive by. After the idea had taken root in his mind, he approached longtime friends and fellow baristas Barletta, 25, and Mesiouris, 28. Together, the three decided to turn Crosby’s idea into a reality.
“The Jitter Bus was just a school bus that we stripped down and built up to a full service café by hand,” said Crosby. “Nothing about this was easy and couldn’t have been more stressful at times, but the support from our friends, family, roasters and anyone else helping along the way make this all worth it.”
Barletta, Crosby and Mesiouris gutted the bus, built counter tops, and installed plumbing and electricity — “all things none of us knew how to do, so we kind of just researched it on our own and learned as we went along,” Barletta said. “Originally we thought we were going to hire people to do the work, but we just used Google and learned on our own.”
Carissa Duhamel Photo
Founders Andrew Mesiouris, Dan Barletta and Paul Crosby.
The Jitter Bus strives to use strictly organic, above-fair trade coffee. Barletta explained that with above fair trade coffee, the farmers who grow the coffee get more of the profits. In this way, the Jitter Bus’s mission lines up with that of that of the Happiness Lab, which Onyeka Obiocha and Vishal Patel opened last March. According to Obiocha, 100 percent of the net profits made from selling their Happy Life brand coffee roast go to investing in the coffee farming communities that they get their coffee from.
“I hope that we catch on to people,” Jitter Bus’s Barletta said. “I think we have the potential to serve amazing coffee to people and I hope that we can reach out to as many people as possible and offer them the best cup of coffee that they’ve ever had.”
Barletta said that the Jitter Bus plans to be wherever it can park. The trio has been looking into a few locations in New Haven, including by Yale-New Haven Hospital and on the corner of College Street. The plan is to sell coffee six days a week.
This is WONDERFUL!!!! I have hoped for a coffee cart/bus in the downtown area that wasn't a chain forever!!!! Please make one of your regular stops around the green somewhere!!!!
THANK YOU A LOT!!!!