Eddy Sandoval & Christian Torres: The Very Vegan Invigorators of BlackStone Herbs + Coffee Bar
Christian right, Eddy left.
Flowing all the way from Worcester, Massachusetts to Providence, Rhode Island, the Blackstone River has surged for ages. People have taken advantage of its raw power and industrialized on the edges of the river beside both the domestic vegetation and the local habitats of indigenous wildlife. In Cumberland, RI, where William Blaxton, the namesake of the river, originally settled, I had the pleasure of making the acquaintance of two upstart residents planting a staple for the city and returning the area to a more natural state.
T: Let’s get it started. Where are you guys from? Introduce yourselves.
C: I’m Christian. I’m from Puerto Rico and I’ve been in Rhode Island for almost ten years now.
E: I’m Eddy. I was born in Providence and I’ve lived here my whole life, but I’ve lived in Cumberland for over two years.
T: How old are you guys?
E: I’m 28.
C: 27.
T: Has it always been a part of your life to do something like this?
E: Yeah, I guess, for me, going to school at URI, I’ve always wanted, like, a side job. So, one of my first jobs was working at Sears. I was working in sales. There I knew I built a lot of communications skills. After that, I met Christian and we both got hired at the Cheesecake Factory. So, we both were working there. Y’know, it was our first restaurant job. We were hosts. We both got promoted to serving. We did that for, like, four years. At the very end, I became a bartender at Cheesecake. Then, we heard of Plant City opening in Providence.
T: What is Plant City?
E: Plant City is a Vegan food hole. So, they have three restaurant concepts: Italian, Mexican, and American cuisine.
T: That’s awesome. I can’t believe I haven’t heard of that.
E: Yeah, it’s two floors and they also have a marketplace. So it's really cozy with three aisles, freezers and all vegan food.
T: That’s in Providence?
E & C: Yeah.
T: That’s cool. I just moved from Taunton so I’m not so familiar with the cool stuff around here.
E: Yeah, so, working in the industry for so long, I feel like it made us understand how things work. Also, we both love coffee and we love to travel so usually when we travel, our first stop is a coffee shop. No matter where we go, we start our day in a coffee shop. So we’ve been to, like, so many. So understanding the different concepts came natural to us.
T: BlackStone is in Cumberland. Was this your first choice?
C: We definitely looked around a little bit. We looked in Providence, so on and so forth, but I think the location was nice; a corner, a busy street. We live right down the street so we can manage it, be here all the time and do whatever we need to it. Also, Cumberland is on the rise-up I would say. I think, like, between the mayor of Cumberland and the people that are working for the city, they’re trying to turn it into a little bit like what’s in Providence. They’re trying to “omph” it up, y’know? They’ve been working on the streets. They’re trying to do very local things, trying to get all the people to rent out the spaces up here. It’s an up-and-coming place and we’re very happy to be a part of that.
T: “Cumberland on the rise!” It’s nice to have locals to own a local spot. It beats people coming in from literally anywhere buying places and deciding how to run it regardless of the residents living out here. As I was driving down through Pawtucket and Central Falls, I saw “Blackstone” everywhere. This is the Blackstone Valley, right?
C: Yes. Right now, we’re in the Valley Falls, but this is all the Blackstone area because it’s next to the Blackstone River. This river has—what is it—a 16 mile-long bike path starting in Lincoln, crossing through Cumberland and all the way to Woonsocket. It’s very well known. There’s a whole huge story about Blackstone. He was one of the first people that came here.
E: He founded Cumberland.
C: Right. He was the founder of Cumberland.
E: There’s actually a memorial not even two blocks away from here. It’s the Blackstone memorial. And before that is the Blackstone theater, which is a classical-type theater. It’s not like a movie theater. It has a stage.
T: So you guys are really representing the area with the name. You’re a part of the locational identifier. You’re a part of Blackstone.
E: Yeah, and we love the bike path, too.
T: I bet. I’m gonna have to try that out. You guys told me about your motivations behind starting the business. I want to know was the idea of having a business formulated before you knew it would be a coffee bar? How did you guys come upon this opportunity?
C: It was definitely something we all talked about the four of us. It’s us two and then we have our two partners. Years back when we were working at Cheesecake, oh man, we would always hangout and talk about owning our own business and how cool it would be to merge ideas.
E: Since like 2015.
C: Eddy and I always wanted to have, like, a coffee or tea place because I love my herbs. He loves his coffee. They had been growing CBD hemp for a long time now. So this was something we already knew we wanted to merge on and then last year, around September?
E: Yeah, like late August, September.
C: Late August, early September, they came up to us and hey did you guys still wanna open that coffee shop?
T: Wow!
E: It was really random. We hadn’t seen them because everyone was quarantined. So it was out of the blue and we were working still but we were like “yeah.” Why would we say “no?” They said “do you guys wanna go half and we’ll go half and throw down, too?” This is their second location for the CBD part. They have a CBD store in Webster, MA.
The four owners of BlacksStone
T: Things must be going well.
C: Yes.
E: Yes, so this is their second location, but it’s with us and we threw in the café.
T: So the whole coffee thing was there all the way through.
E: Oh yeah, yeah. That was the whole proposal: café, CBD bar.
T: That kind of answers my next question. This place is “Herbs + Coffee.” I was going to ask you what pushed you to do more than just coffee.
C: Well, when we put Herbs up there, it’s a broad spectrum, as in, we are obviously talking about our CBD products but also we’re talking about the other herbs we carry in the shop. We carry all organic and clean and they’re all grown in Rhode Island, all the herbs. Then we use them to mix it with not only the CBD but with just themselves. They have a lot of beneficial properties. It’s good for different vitamins. It’s good to get rid of certain things. Help you out with, like, depression and so on and so forth. So, mix it in with the CBD, it’s a great aspect on homeopathic, clean medicine.
T: It’s obvious you are invested in improving the way people feel. Has anyone reached out to tell you how much they appreciate that.
E: Yes.
C: Yes, definitely. A lot of people have.
T: This is a big success right out the gates.
C: A lot of people love the product, especially the CBD. When it comes down to people coming here seeking a remedy, some people are getting this for their first time or their second or third time. When they get it, this time, trying it from us, we get a lot of good feedback. Not only from the CBD, but all of our products, the coffee, the drinks.
E: Somebody said we have the best coffee in Cumberland.
T: That’s huge because it’s not easy to usurp the throne from a place that’s, who knows, been here for decades. To surpass them just like that, that’s a trophy you guys should get.
E: Especially considering it’s been 3 months.
T: Coffee can be generational. People always have their spot. Hopefully you guys can be the spot for a lot of people. I think it’s working.
E: Now that I think about it, too, when it came down to selecting our coffee and even our loose leaf herbs, that all came very naturally to us because we already had specific roasters and herbs suppliers picked up for years. We knew from the get-go we would go with New Harvest coffee because we love their coffee.
T: Where are they from?
E: Pawtucket. They’re a roastery supply to a few locations in Rhode Island and in Mass, too. They’re really local and they do fair trade sourcing directly from the farms in Ecuador mostly but also throughout all of Central and South America.
T: Awesome, awesome.
E: And organic, too.
T: CBD. It gives you guys an edge on the competition and it’s a spin on a classic café experience. It’s already proved successful. Christian, from what you were telling me before the interview, I gathered the CBD actually improves the effects of the caffeine itself.
C: The way CBD works, it goes into the new main receptors of your body: one being in your brain and one being in your stomach. It puts your body into homeostasis. By doing so, the CBD just sends different messages through your whole entire body. So if you take basically anything—if you drink coffee that gives you energy or take an advil for a headache—CBD makes that effect last longer. CBD won’t let you crash, either, because it mellows you out. It gives you the perfect combination of “I’m going to be energized for the next 8 hours and I’m not going to crash later on.”
T: Plants can have such beneficial effects on us. You guys are the experts, you know best.
C: If you have a headache, take CBD: instant relief. Apply a CBD salve on your temple, doing so will also get rid of a headache. The oils will also help with it. If your bones or your muscles are hurting, put a salve on the area and rub it in or you can also take a CBD tincture and it will also help with that. It’s just crazy how it can go and help anything from pain to anxiety to gut issues. It works in so many different ways.
T: People are really starting to figure that out, too. I could tell CBD was getting big when my mom who, like, hates weed and stuff. She always said it made her freak out and what not. I remember a couple years ago, I came home and she had a bunch of CBD gummies and she said it made her feel great.
E: [Laughs] I love that.
A very nice place to relax among the greenery
T: It’s 2021. People are pretty open-minded at this point, but has anyone looked over and tied the CBD to pot and expressed that was unsavory?
C: Yes and no. We definitely have gotten those people that have come in and they’re like “oh god, I want nothing to do with that.” But then, they’ll hear me talk about it or I’ll ask them “do you know about CBD?” and they’ll say “no,” so we talk to them. I won’t try to give them CBD. I’ll just try to explain to them how it works and what it really does and how it is related to the Cannabis plant, yes, but it does the complete opposite of it [THC] y’know? It’s more the medicinal part of it. So they’re either “oh no, I still won’t do it” or “oh I know what is, I might give it a try.” They might try it there and then after I told them about it. We have some informational stuff up on the board, too. You can google it and a lot of stuff will come up on it.
T: I think CBD is going to remain big as people realize there are natural solutions to issues they have. It’s got something to offer.
E: It makes you feel great, too. If you have anxiety, it will calm you down. If you have back aches, the pain salve works wonders.
C: It’s good for depression, too.
T: Since COVID started, I had my first anxiety attack. I used to smoke weed regularly and that helped my anxiety sometimes but I rarely smoke now. I’m going to have to try these products out because it might be the way for me.
C: You should definitely give it a try. It doesn’t have that psycho-active effect because it doesn’t carry Delta-9. Delta-9 is what’s in the THC that gets you high. Our product, though, is full-spectrum. Everyone always talks about CBD because it’s the main cannabidiol that everyone knows about but there’s many cannabinoids in the hemp plant that are great for different things. I have this chart over here that tells you. There’s not only CBD. There’s CBG, CBC, CDN. Those are all different components of the plant that help you in different places of your body and in different ways. But of course, all those cannabinoids mixed together make for great, amazing healing properties. Where the CBD slacks off, the CBN takes off, y’know what I mean?
T: That’s really informative. You guys also have these other articles. Even Time has covered this.
C: Not only does it talk about cannabis, it talks about different herbs and properties. Everything from yoga to relaxing, anything natural health on your body. I figured “why not put it out?” We have another one over here. The whole entire thing is about CBD from people’s perspectives, “how have people overcome different things?” Obviously, there’s both versions of it. There’s the people who don’t like it and the people that do like it. So it’s just kind of a good balance which I figure is good that people can see the two sides.
A look at the chart on the counter among some of the other products
T: Mhm. So you guys opened in October during the pandemic. You lived a lot of the pandemic up to that point and then decided to open a business. That’s pretty adventurous. I’d like to ask you has it been tough through COVID but you opened during it.
E: December was tough because there was another three-week mandated shutdown. We had a month to compare December to November. November was pretty good for our first month being open. Then December hit and it was weird. There were the holidays and the shutdown. We stayed open but it was so slow. Then, after New Years’, it’s been slowly picking up. Also, the word is still getting out.
T: I bet you some people were dying to come back, right?
E: A lot of our regulars took a break, too, because of the three-week shutdown. But, yeah, everyone did come back. It’s nice to have that, too. Our regulars are important to us. You just saw Corinne come in.
T: Yeah, you guys knew her. You said “hey, Corinne.”
E: She comes in twice, maybe three times a week.
T: I used to have a place in Taunton I’d go to a few times a week. I know how important that is. That’s your morning. I was told that you guys work with artists in monthly events. Could you tell me a little more about that?
E: So—how do I even start? Well, since the beginning, I really wanted to involve the art community because I have a background in art. That’s what I went to school for. I also worked for the art gallery at URI and I loved it. So I kind of brought that here. I have some artist friends and connections. For the art gallery here, the line-up is already booked ‘til October and there’s still people interested.
T: October this year?!
E+C: Yeah.
T: Jeez louise. That’s awesome.
E: It’s great for them because it’s free exposure.
T: Right.
E: That’s really important for artists getting their name out there to people who come to see art and that’s what we try to do here as well. People come in expecting there to be some art now because that’s what we advertise, too.
T: Do you guys do an opening for the new artist?
E: We do like an art show. It’s every third Saturday of the month. We felt like that was a great date for the art to settle in the shop.
[Newspaper delivery man stops in and delivers a stack]
T: That’s the local paper, right? The Breeze? You guys got featured in that.
E: Yes, that was on our first day open. We had the mayor come by for a ribbon cutting ceremony. It took place outside on this corner. A lot of people showed up, a lot of friends and family, the mayor, a few interviewers for the Valley Breeze.
T: It must feel great to show off everyone’s work and art with that kind of audience.
E: I love it because it always changes in here. Every month it completely changes. There’s been a bunch of different media. Last month was photography. It was local photography, too.
C: It was pictures of Rhode Island and Massachusetts.
E: Wildlife and nature. It was really fun.
T: You guys are doing a great job. That’s evident. Do you have any advice for anyone that might want to open a business that’s aligned with your philosophy and practices?
E: For advice, I would say “if you feel true about it and it’s genuine, do it. And it takes a lot of work.” I feel like when we opened, us and our partners spent a lot of time and money to get it going but it was definitely worth it so I would say “never give up if that’s your calling.”
C: Invest in yourself. That’s the best thing you could possibly do. It’s always going to pay off in the end.
T: Is there anything you’re excited for coming up or trying to promote?
E: We’re mostly excited for Spring and Summer because they’re gonna redo all the sidewalks here. So we’re gonna get brand new sidewalks and streets so we’re excited to bring out a patio so people can just sit down outside or inside.
C: Get a pre-rolled. Get a coffee. Sit outside, smoke it, drink your coffee.
T: What’s so cool to me about you guys is that what you want to promote is something the city is doing and it just goes to show your investments in the community.
C: Also, every third Saturday of every month, we are introducing a different artist. We do a “meet the artist” and the artist will bring in extra paintings, extra of their product. Some of its paintings or photography or sculpture. Just come in and check out and support the artist. Even if you come in and don’t buy a painting, let’s say, but you do get a coffee, we give back the artist 10% of our sales for that time being here just to help out the artist.
T: And is that an all-day thing?
E: It’s in the afternoon, from 12 until 3 when we close.
T: That’s so great guys. I definitely appreciate everything you’re doing. Your practices are very aligned with what we believe here. Hopefully we can meet some of the next featured artists and do some coverage on them.
Storefront, Broad Street Side
While in the store, numerous visitors raved about the place, the product, and the way they felt now that they had the opportunity to reach this site of herbal nirvana. This section of heaven for holistic enthusiasts leaves none wondering the part BlackStone plays in the stark improvement to their lives and the environment. These spirited restaurateurs are ferrying both the interested and the interesting on a certifiable wave of decontamination. With an uncanny sense of synergy, Christian and Eddy are looking to open your personal path to a clearer mind and abandon the distress that is so common and so toxic. When you visit, I know you’ll see how special this is and I hope you will feel as invited as I have to return over and over again.
(Since publishing this article, the cafe’s name has changed to Apothica)
