Trading Latte for a Maté

Organic vegan carob brownies helped feed a steady stream of customers at yesterday’s ribbon-cutting ceremony and grand opening of the Maté Factor Café. Run by the religious group known as the Twelve Tribes, the café occupies the former site of the Home Dairy on the Commons.

Alesha Myers ’04 and Mike Reardon stopped in partly because of the café’s elaborate wood decor.

“I stopped in a few days ago,” Reardon said, “it looked fantastic.”

Customers were treated to live folk music and samples of the café’s cookies, wraps and maté, a tea-like drink of South American origins.

“We’ve had a few hundred people come in today,” said Sholom, a member of the Twelve Tribes.

The café also features wireless internet. While there are plans to be open 24 hours a day, closing on Saturdays to observe the Sabbath, the café’s schedule is currently unsettled, Twelve Tribes member Tom Rivera said.

Rivera believes the café will appeal to the student palate.

“The [belgian] waffles are for late-night college students,” Rivera said.

The Twelve Tribes’ beliefs on issues of race and disapproval of homosexuality are frequently cited by those advocating a consumer boycott. Several of the patrons said they were still making up their minds about the group.

“My feeling is that we should give them a chance to be part of the community,” one cafégoer said, “I hope that people give them a chance.

Jane McPheeters, president of the Tompkins County Chamber of Commerce, and Ithaca Downtown Partnership Director Gary Ferguson were present for the ribbon-cutting, as were representatives from City Hall, Rivera said.

Read Another Article

Meditating on a lost party
Eight surprising fictions in Dan Brown’s ‘Da Vinci Code’

Related News Articles Topic(s): Twelve Tribes Subscribe to Religion News Blog updates Subscribe to Religion News Blog [What is this?] Get Religion News Blog's headline by Email [What is this?] Follow Religion News Blog at Twitter Find Related Information Use our custom search engines to find additional research resources on religions and cults: ApologeticsSearch.com: Search for apologetics articles, books, videos, and other research resources across 135 Christian apologetics websites and blogs. CounterCultSearch.com: Search for information about (religious) cults, cult-like organizations, and cults experts -- as well as paranormal-, New Age, and pseudoscientific claims -- across 260+ websites, blogs and forums dedicated to cult research, spiritual abuse, ex-cult counseling & support. Find Related Religion & Spirituality Books at Amazon.com Twelve Tribes Possibly related... or Most Popular Religion News Articles Kent Hovind: Evangelist arrested on federal charges Beast’s real mark devalued to ’616′ Muslim Woman Gives Sex Advice on Arab TV Michael Jackson Confirms Conversion to Islam Kent Hovind, ‘Dr. Dino,’ guilty on all counts The fall and rise of Carlton Pearson Search False prophet Harold Camping sets another date for rapture: May 21, 2011 Watch the film Theo van Gogh was murdered for Kent Hovind — Dr. Dino — sentenced to 10 years in prison

Search Religion News Blog