Westbrook community embraces new coffee trailer
Coffee, Community, and Resilience: Westbrook’s Kassa Coffee Thrives Amid Challenges
WESTBROOK – Three months ago, a white trailer on the banks of the Presumpscot River began serving more than just coffee. Kassa Coffee, owned by Iraqi‑born Iman Enan, has become a daily destination for Westbrook residents and visitors alike, drawing lines that stretch around the park’s playground.
When the trailer first opened, it was a bare metal box with no logo and no card reader. “It looked like an ugly, red, empty metal box,” Enan recalls. “It took four months for my husband to turn it into a functioning business.” Today, the trailer houses a coffee machine, a fridge, a sink, and a handful of secondhand supplies – all enough to brew specialty coffees, matcha lattes, and a rotating menu of creative drinks. The operation is small but tight‑knit: Enan makes the drinks, her husband handles the finances and drives the trailer each morning, and Enan’s sister helps after school.
“I’ve always imagined a coffee shop as a home,” Enan says. She grew up in Maine after moving from Iraq as a teenager, attended Deering High School, and earned degrees in psychology from Southern Maine Community College and the University of Southern Maine. “Coffee shops were like my home.” After working a few years at Starbucks and learning the craft by watching others, she and her husband seized the opportunity that came with a job loss and a shared dream: a mobile coffee shop that could sit wherever the community needed it.
The trailer’s location at Riverbank Park proved fortuitous. “It’s close to the playground, so parents bring their kids,” Enan says. The park’s free‑to‑use space has made it easier to serve customers who enjoy sipping coffee while watching the river. The trailer’s modest hours – 8 a.m. to 6 p.m. every day except Wednesday – reflect its size, but the lines that form each morning show that the business has captured a loyal following.
Social media has played a key role. Customers routinely post videos of themselves twirling straws, posing in front of the trailer, and sharing reviews from their cars. One customer, a parent from Lewiston, said she came specifically for Kassa Coffee after hearing the trailer’s buzz. Another heard of it from her daughter in New York, who saw a video and shared it with friends. The trailer’s aesthetic – bright white walls, colorful latte art – has made it a favorite backdrop for TikTok and Instagram videos. “We’re trying to build community here,” Enan says, and the online community seems to back that mission.
The business’s success has not come without difficulty. On the day it opened, a man approached Enan, harassing her and making racist remarks, including “You’re taking over the park. You’re too loud. You shouldn’t be here.” When he called the police the next day, the situation escalated, and the man returned a few weeks later. After Enan offered him a cup of coffee, he again declared that she didn’t belong in the park. On another occasion, he shouted at customers wearing head coverings and demanded they leave the country. The incidents were captured on a customer’s phone and went viral, bringing national attention to the trailer.
The backlash sparked an outpouring of support from locals and from the broader online community. “I’m trying a new coffee shop in Westbrook,” one customer wrote in a post that later trended. “Finally stopped by Kassa Coffee after hearing so many great things.” By the following weekend, the line outside the trailer had grown so long that Enan said she was overwhelmed and even cried. “We want to be known for the coffee, not because people feel bad for us,” she told reporters. “I want to represent my business as a Muslim woman that serves something good.”
Enan’s decision to not dwell on the harassment reflects a larger ethos: resilience rather than victimhood. Her husband keeps the trailer’s operations running, while her sister assists during after‑school hours. Their small family has had to adapt to being a new mom, too. With a 1½‑year‑old daughter at home, the couple rotates child‑care duties while managing the coffee stall. “Running the coffee trailer feels like raising a second baby,” Enan mused.
Looking ahead, the couple faces logistical and regulatory hurdles. Commercial real estate is expensive, and the trailer’s license limits where it can operate. They are considering closing the trailer for the winter or finding a permanent location, but for now, they remain in the park, serving the community they have come to cherish. Their story, from a humble trailer to a celebrated local landmark, underscores the power of community support, social media, and a willingness to persevere in the face of adversity.
