Bleu Coffee is throwing open the doors of its Montclair café this weekend for a free 10th-anniversary celebration packed with live music and a Jamaican barbecue spread. The event, dubbed Out of Many, One Coffee, is set to run from 2 to 6 p.m. Sunday at the company's location on Erie Street, marking a decade since the Jersey City-born coffee brand first launched.
According to Jersey Digs, the celebration is free but has limited space, with attendees encouraged to RSVP through Bleu Coffee's event link. Bleu Coffee founder Kevin O'Gilvie said the shop has been a place for connection for the past ten years, framing the anniversary as a milestone for the community that has grown up around the brand's three cafés in Jersey City and Montclair.
A Menu and Lineup Rooted in Jamaican Heritage
The anniversary event will serve a traditional Jamaican barbecue menu, with Chef Dean curating what organizers describe as authentic Jamaican flavors, per Jersey Digs. Live music is also on the bill, with performances from Aftertones, P&H Duo, and DJ Church rounding out the afternoon at the Montclair location.
The Jamaican influence isn't new to Bleu Coffee. O'Gilvie grew up visiting Jamaica with his immigrant parents, and those trips shaped the direction of the business from the start — as NJBIZ reported, the shop was inspired by O'Gilvie's annual trips to his parents' native country. That connection led O'Gilvie to partner with Jamaican farmers and local roasters, importing Jamaica Blue Mountain green beans to the United States and roasting them locally, bringing organic coffee sourced from the island to New Jersey.
From Two Jersey City Shops to a Third Café in Montclair
Bleu Coffee was founded in 2016 by O'Gilvie, according to luxcafeclub.com, and built its base with two Jersey City locations before expanding across the river to Essex County. The company runs a café inside The Beacon complex at 56 Beacon Way and a second spot at 175 Second St. in the downtown Powerhouse Arts district, a location NJBIZ noted when it opened in the same neighborhood.
The Montclair café at 8 Erie Street became Bleu Coffee's third location, with its grand opening scheduled for Nov. 3, 2024, according to themontclairgirl.com. At the time, the company said the Montclair market would let it increase its market reach and tap into consumers who would not usually make it to its Jersey City locations as frequently, per the same NJBIZ report on the expansion. The café's listed hours from that period ran Monday through Friday from 5 a.m. to 4 p.m. and weekends from 7 a.m. to 5 p.m., offering fresh pastries, smoothies, teas, and sandwiches alongside its coffee menu, according to luxcafeclub.com.
Celebrating a Decade of Community
Organizers describe Out of Many, One Coffee as an event honoring a decade of community, culture, and exceptional coffee, tying together the brand's Jamaican roots with the Montclair neighborhood it has served since 2024. Anyone hoping to attend can find details through Bleu Coffee's Instagram handle, @bleucoffee, or by RSVPing through the company's event link ahead of Sunday's celebration.
