Explore some salacious themes in DRIP Zine, a new project from the folks who brought you Coffee People.
BY ASHLEY RODRIGUEZ
BARISTA MAGAZINE ONLINE
If Coffee People, a zine showcasing the work of baristas and other coffee professionals, was hosting a dinner party, DRIP Zine would be the saucy relative. DRIP Zine, a project started by Coffee People Zine founder Kat Melheim and co-creator Claudia Campero, aims to showcase the more salacious and raunchier work of coffee pros. “The main difference between Coffee People and DRIP is that DRIP is explicitly a place for more illicit content. We wanted to create a space where coffee professionals can feel comfortable sharing the sexual, sensual, smutty parts of themselves,” Kat shares.
The zine provides a space for coffee pros to reclaim their sensual side. “As service industry professionals, we are sexualized and objectified without our consent on the daily,” Kat notes. Adds Claudia, “Our guests and communities may only see us as their barista, café manager, roaster, etc., but what they don’t see are all the different layers that make up our individuality that create lasting relationships and friendships with our communities.”
The work in the magazine will be driven entirely by coffee professionals. “This is a platform where every person involved dictates 100 percent of how they want to be represented. This space is authentic and raw, free from any labels or assumptions that could be made about who we are as coffee people,” Claudia notes.
Along with being barista-driven, DRIP also explicitly promotes inclusion and body positivity. “It is an open invitation to celebrate our bodies—to promote consensual, sex-positive, shame-free discussion within the coffee community. DRIP aims to destigmatize sexuality (orientation, gender, presentation, attraction, etc.) and foster the exploration into how we feel about our bodies, sex, gender, nudity, power, vulnerability, self-expression, and identity,” Kat says.
For now, DRIP will be a one-off publication, but it might expand to an annual publication based on consumer interest. The first issue of DRIP Zine will be available in 2019—submissions are open until January 29, 2019, and you can follow along with the progress of the zine on Instagram. And you can bet there’s going to be a raucous launch party to accompany the release of the magazine; we’ll keep you posted!
