Newly opened this spring, Saint’s Coffee is already buzzing in Providence. Located on the Rooms & Works campus in the city’s West End, Susan Saint-Hilaire and her husband, Oliver Abreu, set out to create a café that feels deeply personal and welcoming. Inspired by growing up in the Dominican Republic, she wanted the space to capture the feeling of drinking coffee in her grandmother’s home.

For Saint-Hilaire, coffee is personal; she grew up around her father’s coffee farm before moving to the U.S. at 16 to attend Johnson & Wales, where she studied international business and marketing before earning an MBA in finance. Though she spent nearly a decade working in corporate settings, coffee remained a constant. She worked as a barista during and after college, an experience that shaped the hospitality-forward approach at Saint’s.

Saint’s is also a family operation. Saint-Hilaire runs the shop alongside her husband and family, while sourcing coffee partly from her family’s farm. Their coffee menu is complemented by fresh pastries from several local bakeries including a Dominican bakery. Saint-Hilaire and Abreu look forward to expanding the café’s role as a gathering space through events and programming rooted in community.

25 Fuller St., Providence. SaintsCafeRI.com

When Paula Agganis is not out exploring local farms and artisan studios and writing about them, she can be found in the kitchen at Paula’s at Courtland Club in Providence.