Island brew finds R.I. home

Single-source coffee has come to Providence from the most unusual of locations: an island in the South Pacific. The country of origin, Vanuatu, inspired the name of the new coffee roaster and café on Atwells Avenue, Vanuatu Coffee Roasters.

Opened in January 2015 by brother-sister team Jimmy Lappin and Martha Soderlund, the business sells coffee by the pound and the cup. The most popular? The Rhody, a cold-brewed ice coffee that is naturally sweet.

Lappin, a former computer-hardware architect, initially visited Vanuatu on vacation, and when inspiration struck in the form of a hot cup of local coffee, spent several years planning a business in his home state that would expressly sell it.

On the island of Tanna, he helped to establish a growers’ cooperative of 10 village chiefs and 30 acres. The beans are shipped to Rhode Island. Lappin roasts them on the premises.

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The coffee is smooth, and lacks the bitterness of many over-roasted blends.

Soderlund, a former seventh-grade English teacher, handles the counter, a job that suits her. “I get to talk all day long,” she said. •

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