Blue’s Brews Co. offering free coffee in exchange for book donations

JOHNSON CITY, Tenn. (WJHL) — Blue’s Brews coffee shop and taproom in Johnson City is hosting a “books for coffee” initiative that allows customers to donate gently used books for resale in exchange for free coffee orders.

Blue’s Brews owner Sarah Colson told News Channel 11 that several employees and customers are bookworms and she always tries to provide plenty of reading materials at the business.

“We’ve always had this dream of having more books because almost all of my baristas are big readers; I’m a big reader, and we just wanted the aesthetics to feel more homey and like a library, kind of,” she said.

One constant at Blue’s Brews is a packed bookshelf that contains many works, including some wrapped in paper to be picked blindly, called “blind date with a book.” Recently, a books-for-sale table was set up at the cash register for anyone hoping to take one home.

Blue’s Brews said any books not kept or re-sold by them will be donated locally. The books for coffee exchange began on April 26, when the business posted the idea to social media.

“So, you bring us books that you are no longer interested in keeping and we make an offer; so we can offer you however many coffee drinks that we think those books are worth.”

When people bring in books, Blue’s Brews will get their contact information and then determine how many coffees the books are worth. They then contact the person who dropped off the books and let them know how many coffees they can get for free. Blue’s Brews will then resell the books donated.

“We’re starting small and we hope to fill up this whole wall of books,” Colson said. “We’ll see how it goes, I hope that I’m constantly having to donate books.”

No end date for the promotion was available by Blue’s Brews.

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