Share Coffee’s Northampton café sits inside Thornes Marketplace at 150 Main Street, the three-story former department store that now holds a warren of independent shops. It serves coffee the company roasts itself in Hadley.
The business has a longer history in the Valley than the name suggests. Owner Ken Majka started as head roaster and lead barista at Rao’s in Amherst in 1997 and was let go at twenty-four when the business sold. He bought the Lady Killigrew café at the Montague Bookmill in 2006, then in 2010 went in with Bueno y Sano founder Bob Lowry to buy Rao’s itself. He started Share in 2015 as a wholesale roastery, rebranded the cafés from Rao’s to Share in 2016, and has been sole owner since. If you wondered where Rao’s went, this is the answer.
What they pour, and what they cook
The roastery is in Hadley and the second café is at 178 North Pleasant Street in Amherst. Majka has said the company pays coffee farmers three to five times fair-trade rates.
The food is sourced about as locally as a breakfast menu can be: eggs from Hall Poultry Farm in Pelham, Jersey milk from Mapleline Farm in Hadley, ginger syrup and lettuce from Old Friends Farm in Amherst, bread from Rise Above Bakery in Greenfield, and honey and maple from Snowshoe Farm. Majka’s summary of why is hard to improve on: “You can’t serve a mediocre breakfast sandwich with the best cup of coffee.”
Note the hours. This café keeps Thornes’ retail schedule rather than a coffee-shop one, so it opens late morning and closes by early evening. It is not the place for an eight o’clock espresso.