A seasonal guide to art & food in Boston 🇺🇸

With family roots in Boston stretching back generations, Marty Souza knows the area like few others. “It feels like it's in my bones,” he says. Marty studied fine arts at the Pratt Institute, and got into coffee via Counter Culture in North Carolina. He later returned to Boston, where he leads the wholesale program for Broadsheet Coffee Roasters.

Read Marty’s Filter guide for a local’s look at everything from record stores to beaches and streets that haven’t changed much in the last hundred years.

*Marty Souza leads the wholesale program for Broadsheet Coffee Roasters in Boston, Massachusetts. Photos courtesy of Broadstreet*

Filter: With your background in art, what about Boston inspires your creative side?

I am inspired by spaces where the city and nature collide in unique ways. When more modern city blocks are interspersed with older architecture, historic sites, and old cemeteries it makes for unique juxtapositions. I don't produce much art these days but it's always these types of landscapes that inspire me visually.

I enjoy visits to art museums as a way to refresh and uplift myself. There are world-class art institutions here like the MFA, the ICA, and the Isabella Stewart Gardner Museum that are all well worth the visit.

Filter: What else do you do for fun around Boston?

There is lots of fun to find around the whole Boston area! I find that for me behavior shifts quite a bit with the seasons. We have all four here!

In warmer weather months I love getting out, taking a leisurely bike ride with my spouse, or finding hikes just outside the city, and hitting up local outdoor markets.

Also, I am a vinyl record collector and record hunting is a non-winter sport for me. Vinyl Index, Armageddon, Big Dig, Want List, and Wanna Hear It are some of the best spots for the Punk/Soul/Reggae/Country/Funk that I'm always digging for.

Summertime is also for hitting the beach, usually on the North Shore of MA. Crane Beach in Ipswich is a beautiful beach spot. I also take lots of weekend excursions along the coast of southern Maine spending time with family who live there and seeing the sights and meandering about.

Fall is the time of year I tend to squeeze in day trips and hikes, visit markets, and maybe find a spot for an apple cider, a donut, and a hayride. You know, really lean into the crispiness of the season!

Winter time for me is for gathering with close friends and family, one-upping each other with great food and beverage sharing, and enjoying each other's company. Shoveling snow is a great way to exercise, just don't move anyone's lawn chair out of the street!

In spring especially I love hitting local farmer's markets and seeing all the fresh food that comes into season one week at a time. I find myself getting way in over my head trying out ingredients and techniques I've never used before!

Seeking our live music is a year-round source of entertainment and Boston has an awesome music scene for national and local live music. Though several of my favorite venues have shuttered over the years, newer ones are popping up that are great like Faces, Deep Cuts, Sinclair, ONCE, and The Jungle that are keeping the torch burning.

Filter: If a good friend came to visit, where would you be sure to take them?

I live on the north side of the greater Boston Metro area in a city called Medford. It's situated right next to Somerville, the city where our still newish roastery and lab opened in summer 2022. Aside from all the other fun things mentioned here, I would bring a friend into Union Square Somerville, where there is a huge amount of food options. On the weekends there is a great farmer's market and a mixed retail courtyard of small local businesses Bow Market.

For any sports fan who has never been to either a Red Sox game at Fenway or a Celtics game at the Garden, I would say both are an essential and quintessentially Bostonian experience.

We could take in an indie or cult movie at Coolidge Corner in Brookline, one of the best art house cinemas around. Authentic Szechuan and handmade dumplings in Boston's Chinatown and an after-dinner drink at the speakeasy The Wig Shop are a great way to end any day!

Filter: What do you like to do to escape the city?

The Fells Reservation spans the edge of several towns and offers miles of trails on the edge of the city. A beach day at Crane Beach, a day trip to the White Mountains for hiking in New Hampshire, or finding a flea market outside the city are some of the ways I'll break up the urban routine.

Another incredible way to escape is to pack a lunch and take a ferry around the Boston Harbor Islands. You can stop off and explore several in one day!

Filter: What touristy things in Boston are worth the hype?

Visiting Salem, Massachusetts (home of the historic Salem Witch Trials) while you are in the area is a unique experience that is totally worth all the tourist trappings of Halloween. The smart move is to go in September when the leaves are getting crispy, the vibes are getting spooky, but the crowds are not yet unbearable. The Salem Witch Museum is a must-visit, along with any weird haunted experience you may happen to find. End the day with a ride out to Essex for a box of big belly fried clams, a local delicacy that is not to be missed!

If you aren't leaving the city, there are plenty of spooky old cemetery tours in downtown Boston to put the chill in iced coffee. Also in terms of tours, the Boston Duck Boat tours are a really good way to see a big part of the city. Any local would tell you to skip Faneuil Hall!

Am I supposed to say Dunkin' Donuts?

Filter: Where are your favorite green spaces there?

On the southern side of the city in an area called Jamaica Plain is the Mount Auburn Cemetery, an absolutely beautiful setting to take in any time of year. It's massive and historic with an incredibly stunning landscaped setting that is just awe-inspiring.

Boston Common in Downtown Boston is actually a great central place to visit with nice proximity to lots of the best the city has to offer!

Filter: What's another coffee shop around there that you really admire, and what about them stands out to you?

I enjoy the whole experience at Ogawa, the only US location for the Japanese coffee roaster. The coffee is solid but they nail anything with milk, both texture and latte art, every time. Also, the overall presentation is really thoughtful and refined.

Revival is a great multi-roaster shop where I can always try a far-flung roaster and some tasty food options.

Filter: What makes Boston feel most like home to you?

I grew up just outside the city and we often took trips into Boston. We would visit the aquarium, and art museums, or see a Red Sox game. My whole family is from the Boston area so it feels like it's in my bones. It's meaningful to me that I work in Somerville, a part of the city where one of my grandfathers was born and where he and my grandmother met. Sometimes you can catch glimpses of parts of the city that haven't changed too much since then.

Filter: How did you end up in the Boston coffee scene?

I was born just north of Boston and grew up in southern New Hampshire. I ended up in coffee taking a circuitous route when my wife and I ended up in North Carolina. My first coffee job was as a barista at a cafe that no longer exists in Chapel Hill called 3Cups in 2005. I went to work for Counter Culture Coffee in 2012 and eventually transferred my role up to the Boston area with CCC. In 2018 joined Broadsheet Coffee Roasters after just a year in business to kickstart and head up the wholesale program.

Filter: Can you share about your role at Broadsheet?

On paper, I am the Head of Wholesale at Broadsheet. In reality, I wear lots of hats! In addition to sales, account management, equipment tech support, and wholesale training, I am a certified Q Grader and I work with the QC and Green Buying team. I help with marketing, events, and social media. I am also the closest thing to an in-house handyman that we have!

My work at Broadsheet is all about offering solutions when folks come to me with their coffee problems. It's super rewarding to learn and grow with partners who are really into what we are doing!

Filter: If you could move to any place in the world just for the coffee scene, where would you move, and what shop would be the biggest reason?

I love where I live but there are places I would love to someday take an extended visit to check out the coffee scene. I would love to go shop-hopping in Japan or Australia. Also, I met some world coffee competitors from The Netherlands at Espressobar Maling when the World Coffee Championships were here in Boston in 2019. It would be incredible to catch up with those folks on their home turf!

Filter: Anything you’d like to add?

I am a huge Boston Celtics (and NBA in general) fan and I love cats!

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Broadsheet Coffee Roasters operates a roastery and a cafe in Boston, Massachusetts.

Food & Beverage

Bow Market

Union Square Somerville

Museums