How Society Coffee Bar’s Signature Drink the ‘Quinny’ Got Its Name

What started out as just a routine stop for an iced coffee led me to the story of how one of the area's most popular coffee shops came to be.

It was a beautiful SouthCoast weekend. I was running errands and dropped into the area's newest coffee shop at the Kilburn Mill.

Looking at the menu, I wanted to treat myself to one of the seasonal flavors, Pumpkin Pie Latte. Like many, I get my coffee iced – or according the the menu at Society Coffee Bar, a "Quinny."

READ MORE: The SouthCoast's Most Caffeinated Coffees

I had never seen that option before, so I asked the staff. While they all had theories, they weren't sure where the name came from.

I had to know, so I went right to the source and reached out to one of the owners, Keith Viveiros, for the scoop.

The Birth of Society Coffee Bar

Keith and his wife Debra own a real estate brokerage in Westport that they started in 2018. The office had some underutilized space. It had been Keith's dream to open up a coffee shop.

"One night, Debra, our friend Mike Quin and I were out celebrating a friend's birthday," he said. "We were discussing potential uses for the front of the building, as we didn't need the real estate office to be the entire first floor. Debra suggested we use the space for the coffee shop I had been talking about for years."

Quin doubted Keith and Debra, and basically shrugged off the idea.

Viveiros was now determined to prove him wrong.

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The Quinny: A Coffee Drink with a Story

Future Growth: Society Coffee Bar’s Expansion Plans