South Bay : Brouhaha Over Coffee Bar

In the old days, college students rallied to fight wars and protest apartheid.

But in this cappuccino-conscious culture, a new cause has unleashed the passions of students at Cal State Dominguez Hills: the threatened closure of the popular campus coffee bar called Espresso Yourself.

In David and Goliath fashion, the independent coffee bar is fighting to retain a toehold on the Carson campus where most food service is newly controlled by a large management firm.

Now Espresso Yourself is due to close by Aug. 4, making room for an espresso bar to be run by the new company.

Michael Ehreth, who started Espresso Yourself, has won over students with his cappuccinos, mochas, iced coffee drinks and Italian sodas. A Seattle native, Ehreth boasts that “I can do anything they can do” up north in the nation’s latte capital.

Loyal coffee-drinking students were outraged to learn that Espresso Yourself would fall prey to a university agreement allowing Professional Food Services Management Inc. to open its own coffee bar. The Student Senate passed a resolution in support of Ehreth’s enterprise.

Nonetheless, the campus is contractually obliged to allow the switch, said Wanda Hill, executive director of the university foundation.

And what about allowing two coffee bars? Not enough latte drinkers, officials said.