At Lips Cafe, community is as strong as the coffee

Mother-son duo Jamane and Donna Weekes have cultivated a Flatbush staple that celebrates their Caribbean roots

The energy inside Lips Café is palpable. Folks are streaming in on this Thursday night for an open mic night hosted by the non-profit Taste of Sounds. As DJ Simbazilla warms up the crowd, guests admire the curated collection of books by Black designers, artists, thinkers and creatives, tastefully arranged along the bar. They lounge under art depicting Black culture and creativity, surrounded by an eclectic mix of yellow and suede chairs. The cafe’s lip-inspired logo decorates the walls, menu boards and even Lip merchandise.

“Lips Café is becoming a staple,” says Taste of Sounds’ open mic host Khay Shabazz. “For Black people all over, when you come to New York, this is where you should go for a good vibe and to see people that look like you.”

Situated in the heart of Little Caribbean, Lips Café was opened by the mother-son duo Jamane and Donna Weekes in 2019. Offering a taste of Caribbean-American cuisine (the Weekes are from St. Vincent), the cafe has weathered the pandemic and will celebrate their fifth anniversary later this year.

“I grew up near Lips, in East Flatbush. This neighborhood means a lot to me; it’s where I have roots,” says Jamane. “As a Caribbean person, this community is still part of my identity. When we started Lips, we wanted to create a space where our community could gather, where people could escape the chaos of everyday life. Growing up here, I felt that lack of outlets firsthand. I want Lips to be that escape for others.”

Jamane and Donna under the Lips Café logo (Courtesy Lips Café)

‘More than just a cafe’
Flatbush has historically been a hub of Caribbean culture, offering Black individuals community and refuge. But as Brooklyn grapples with gentrification, communal spaces like Lips — where Black people feel safe and seen — are increasingly important not only for maintaining community but combating the erasure of Black presence and history.

“Lips is more than just a cafe. It’s a safe space for creatives and those seeking community, which aligns with our goals, making our partnership much easier,” says Taste of Sounds’ Steph Donalds, herself a Flatbush native. “Our open mics are designed to champion artists lacking the financial means or connections to perform on larger platforms. It’s all about creative individuality,”

Some of the performers who came out aren’t even Brooklyn natives. Gen Bello is down from Harlem, a singer who goes by YaYa came from Yonkers to celebrate her birthday.

“I found out about the cafe through another artist who had performed at one of the Taste of Sounds open mic nights and decided to give it a try,” says Ari Phillips, who made the trip from Canarsie. “It feels very personal, which gave me chills before performing. It’s intimate in a good way. It’s like a family culture vibe. This is my first time here, and being greeted with open arms was really nice.”

Aside from their open mic night, Lips also hosts other events for the community, like Cuffing Season, a speed dating evening. Lips came highly recommended to the event’s producer, Silva founder of A Silva Lining Productions, who found the space “cute and quaint,” she says. “Very Black, very vibey and aesthetically pleasing.”

Cups up at Lips (Courtesy of Taste of Sounds)

The laws of attraction
Running a coffee shop was not always the plan.

After Donna’s mother passed away in 2010, she launched a clothing brand named Ethel Fashion in her memory and curated an annual Mother’s Day fashion show at Friends of Crown Heights in her honor. After a few years, she began creating bags and shirts featuring the pair of lips that would ultimately become the cafe’s logo.

Jamane, meanwhile, worked in real estate and marketing and had a personal passion for art. Neither of them had any prior experience in the food or restaurant business.

“I got into cafes and started visiting art galleries,” he says. “I became fixated on cafes, researching and trying different ones across the city. I realized that the theme of a cafe draws people in. Coffee is coffee, but people go where they feel comfortable, where the vibe is right.”

The theme, he realized, was right there in his mom’s lips. So he pitched the idea to Donna.

While getting a haircut for a date near his old barbershop, Jamane had noticed a vacant storefront with a for lease sign and shared the idea with his mom. He took them to the Haitian-inflected Lakou Café in Crown Heights to show them how it could work, “and the rest is history,” he says.

“She’s always been open-minded, wanting to learn new things,” he says. “It wasn’t like we were putting business plans together or scouting neighborhoods. It was just an idea that came to my head. I feel like, by the laws of attraction, I willed it to happen.”

And as the saying goes, once they built it, people came.

“I love the ambiance,” says Aliyah LaForce, a regular. “As soon as you step in, it feels peaceful, like home, and you feel super seen as a Black individual. From the artwork to the food, everything is amazing. And the drinks are top tier. They have the best chai in New York City.”

Next steps
Nearly five years in, Lips has partnered with creatives and businesses across the city. They provide mentorship opportunities to youth and have expanded their catering services to clients like The Met Museum, which invited them to take part in its Black History Month activations.

Jamane is in talks with another partner, 333 Lounge on Flatbush Avenue, to expand their offerings even further by running a cafe during daytime hours, when they wouldn’t typically be open, to serve as a gathering and remote working space — even further embodying its own motto: “We don’t serve coffee, we serve community.”