Passion Project

A Sarasota coffee shop is all vegan, all the time

Only oat milk. Only vegan ingredients. Only insanely delicious everything.

Young entrepreneurs Ian Steger and Emily Arthur, the founders of Sarasota’s Project Coffee, aren’t messing around when it comes to flavor.

At their locale in the historic Burns Court district of downtown, every menu item is plant-based and planet-friendly, and every staff member—from the chefs to the baristas—is paid a livable wage. Surprising? Maybe. But it shouldn’t be. Steger and Arthur think all these things could be the business norm—with the right intention.

“It’s been our vision to create a contemporary café that is highly consumable, new and exciting (but quickly familiar), and that also happens to be 100 percent vegan,” say Steger and Arthur, who opened Project Coffee in July 2019. “We only serve oat milk, and that’s on purpose. In fact, the foundation of the café and business at large has been built on intentional and purposeful decisions just like that.”

And Project Coffee is serving up a plethora of purposeful bites and beverages from 8 a.m. to 4 p.m., seven days a week. Patrons can order online or opt for curbside pickup (with a 15-minute prep time window).

On the drink front, there are cappuccinos, lattes (matcha, golden milk, and chai varieties), flat whites, espressos, Americanos, cortados, hot chocolates, teas, and fresh local juices.

The smoothies are especially beloved—like the Pineapple Cream with real chunks of pineapple, vanilla ice cream (vegan), and maple; and the Deep Green with spinach, cucumbers, bananas, flax seed, and spirulina.

And who needs a milkshake when you can have an oatshake? Project Coffee whips up caramel, vanilla, chocolate, and matcha blends, as well as an all-in-one vanilla-caramel-chocolate-matcha oatshake.

Food-wise, über-healthy breakfast classics never tasted better. Take the maple sausage, egg, and cheese biscuit (nontraditional, of course); the butter and jam biscuit (with house-cultured cashew butter and blackberry jam); and the breakfast burritos (with arugula, avocado, and house chimichurri on the side). There are also slices of avocado toast, waffles, plantain salads, tahini salads, and tropical chia bowls.

“At this point, it really doesn’t matter that we’re vegan, and that’s actually the whole point. We’ve created a new level of expectation for vegan food and drinks and what ‘vegan’ tastes and feels like,” Steger and Arthur say. “It’s no longer ‘good for being vegan,’ and instead it’s just ‘good’ (or, many would say, great). We’re not selling virtue. We’re selling good drinks and great food. It’s an analogous experience, not an alternative one.”

But there’s more, so stay tuned.

“Our plans for the future are quickly approaching, and 1419 Fifth Street will be the new center of the city,” Steger and Arthur say. “We promise.”

Project Coffee: 538 S Pineapple Ave, Sarasota; projectcoffee.us