How one Mass. coffee shop is protesting Trump in lieu of No Kings

In lieu of a No Kings protest, one Ayer coffee shop will demonstrate against the Trump administration in the most Massachusetts way ever: by dumping tea. 

For the second time this year, Markoh’s Wake and Bake is holding a “Boston Tea Party” event, inviting customers to grab free iced tea and pour it out in protest. Anne diCicco, who co-owns the coffee shop with husband Mark diCicco, said they came up with the idea during the first big No Kings protests that took place across the country on President Donald Trump’s birthday, June 14. 

The town of Ayer, where Markoh’s is located, had no plans to hold its own No Kings protest back in June, but the politically-involved diCiccos wanted to get other like-minded people in town out that day anyway. 

The tea was a nod to the American Revolution protest in Boston in which the Sons of Liberty dumped chests full of tea into the Boston Harbor. The additional “ice” in the beverage at Markoh’s is to protest the more aggressive Immigration and Customs Enforcement raids occurring in the U.S. under Trump’s second term. 

“It gave the people in our community a way to come out … and to know you’re not on this island alone,” Anne said. 

She added that more than 150 people showed up at Markoh’s that Saturday. This weekend another round of No Kings protests are taking over major cities and towns alike across Massachusetts and the country — but once again, not in Ayer. After Anne heard President Trump’s press secretary Karoline Leavitt in a Fox News interview claim that the Democratic Party’s “main constituency are made up of Hamas terrorists, illegal aliens and violent criminals,” the diCiccos decided to hold their form of protest once more. 

“I’m not a terrorist. I work really hard in the community,” Anne said. “We pay a boatload of taxes like everybody else, and this country belongs to all of us. We can’t just sit back and take the rhetoric and the acts of this administration without having something to say.”

With another round of No Kings protests taking place around Massachusetts and the country this Saturday, Anne said the plan is to do the same form of protest. 

Along with free iced tea, Anne said they’re providing some Minuteman hats and stickers that read “No Thrones, No Crowns, No Kings.” 

Their business has received minimal backlash over the event, and Anne said they’ve talked to staff about de-escalation with possible instigators just in case. 

Their form of protest begins at 8 a.m. Saturday and runs until closing time at 2 p.m. Multiple neighboring communities like Groton, Harvard, and Littleton are also holding No Kings Protests at various times. 

Katelyn Umholtz

Food and Restaurant Reporter

Katelyn Umholtz covers food and restaurants for Boston.com. Katelyn is also the author of The Dish, a weekly food newsletter.