“Drive-through coffee” has taken on a different meaning — and flavor — lately, now that the Coffee Camper has rolled into Kanawha City — via Arizona.
Kathleen Monnett launched her “joe-to-go-on-wheels” concept the day after Labor Day. Her blue camper serves coffee, other hot and cold beverages, made-from-scratch treats from well-guarded family recipes, and more in the parking lot of the Kanawha City Piggly Wiggly supermarket at 5003 MacCorkle Ave., S.E.
Monnett drives the compact, throwback Frolic camper, bearing Arizona license plates and affixed to a Chevy Suburban pick-up truck, to and from her home about a mile away in Kanawha City to conduct her brewing business. The Coffee Camper is open from 7:30 a.m. to 1 p.m. Tuesdays through Fridays.
A much-traveled Wisconsin native, she and her husband, Shane, a surgery resident at CAMC, moved to West Virginia four years ago from Flagstaff, Arizona.
“I’ve always wanted to open a coffee shop, but we’ve had to move around a lot,” Monnett said. “When we moved here to Charleston from out West, there was no good, drive-through coffee shop here. They’re all over Arizona — you find little coffee shacks and kiosks where you can drive right through. I felt maybe my coffee shop dream could morph into this drive-through that Charleston didn’t have — until the Starbucks opened downtown a few months ago.”
She and her husband enjoy refurbishing vintage items, she said, and they found a camper that fit the bill to house the coffee shop, from a Craigslist ad.
“I’ve always liked old, retro things,” Monnett said, “so this is kind of killing two birds with one stone; I get my coffee shop and a cool, vintage camper out of it.”
The Monnetts purchased the 1965 Frolic in February from its owner in Oak Hill and undertook rampant remodeling. Cabinets were replaced and relocated and the interior was revised to meet Health Department requirements. “We did a whole paint job on the inside and the outside. We put in new water lines, gas lines and lots and lots of little things.
“Since we live in Kanawha City and our kids go to school here, it made sense for us to serve the area where we live, rather than taking it downtown or to Southridge. Kanawha City really doesn’t have anything like this,” Monnett said. “Since Piggly Wiggly has the popcorn truck and the barbecue truck here, I talked to the owner of Piggly Wiggly and we worked out a deal where we could park here.”
A full espresso menu is available at the Coffee Camper, as are chai teas, frappes, smoothies and decaffeinated and sugar-, gluten- and dairy-free options.
“We get our espresso beans from a roaster up in Morgantown called First Hand Co-Op,” Monnett said. “Our house blend coffee beans come from our absolute favorite coffee shop in Flagstaff, called Late for the Train. Our beans are special roasted in small batches from both of these shops — they’re really good.”
A favorite Coffee Camper concoction already is the Bulletproof, prepared with a high-caliber caffeine content. Ingredients include a shot of espresso, regular coffee, a spoonful of ghee and maple syrup.
“I have it in the morning and it literally keeps me going all day,” Monnett said. “It’s high caffeine and high energy.”
Other often-ordered drinks include the Mountain Momma, which is an iced vanilla latte, and The Gauley, an Italian soda flavored with coconut, lime and a splash of cream (“The name’s a wink and a nudge to whitewater rafting,” Monnett disclosed about the Gauley’s monicker).
Current seasonal choices include pumpkin spice and maple spice lattes.
Beverages aren’t the only beguiling attraction from the Coffee Camper’s kitchen, either. An array of pastries is available to savor, as well — made daily by Monnett herself at home and in the camper’s kitchen.
“People love the cinnamon rolls. They’re good, they’re big and they’re full of calories. I also feature different types of pies; pies are my forte. I make all of these things myself from scratch here in the camper. Afternoons and evenings when I’m home, I’m baking,” said Monnett.
Although the Coffee Camper has only a few weeks of history, Monnett said she hasn’t ruled out expanding in the future.
“If there’s a consistently slow day here, I may start to go downtown or up to the business park near the airport. I’ve got a couple of ideas of places to go if there’s a slow day here.
“We love West Virginia. We’re 99 percent sure we’re going to be staying here in West Virginia, putting down our roots finally. As soon as we know that for sure, we’re going to look into [opening] a building,” she said.
Kathleen Monnett launched her “joe-to-go-on-wheels” concept the day after Labor Day. Her blue camper serves coffee, other hot and cold beverages, made-from-scratch treats from well-guarded family recipes, and more in the parking lot of the Kanawha City Piggly Wiggly supermarket at 5003 MacCorkle Ave., S.E.
Monnett drives the compact, throwback Frolic camper, bearing Arizona license plates and affixed to a Chevy Suburban pick-up truck, to and from her home about a mile away in Kanawha City to conduct her brewing business. The Coffee Camper is open from 7:30 a.m. to 1 p.m. Tuesdays through Fridays.
A much-traveled Wisconsin native, she and her husband, Shane, a surgery resident at CAMC, moved to West Virginia four years ago from Flagstaff, Arizona.
“I’ve always wanted to open a coffee shop, but we’ve had to move around a lot,” Monnett said. “When we moved here to Charleston from out West, there was no good, drive-through coffee shop here. They’re all over Arizona — you find little coffee shacks and kiosks where you can drive right through. I felt maybe my coffee shop dream could morph into this drive-through that Charleston didn’t have — until the Starbucks opened downtown a few months ago.”
She and her husband enjoy refurbishing vintage items, she said, and they found a camper that fit the bill to house the coffee shop, from a Craigslist ad.
“I’ve always liked old, retro things,” Monnett said, “so this is kind of killing two birds with one stone; I get my coffee shop and a cool, vintage camper out of it.”
The Monnetts purchased the 1965 Frolic in February from its owner in Oak Hill and undertook rampant remodeling. Cabinets were replaced and relocated and the interior was revised to meet Health Department requirements. “We did a whole paint job on the inside and the outside. We put in new water lines, gas lines and lots and lots of little things.
“Since we live in Kanawha City and our kids go to school here, it made sense for us to serve the area where we live, rather than taking it downtown or to Southridge. Kanawha City really doesn’t have anything like this,” Monnett said. “Since Piggly Wiggly has the popcorn truck and the barbecue truck here, I talked to the owner of Piggly Wiggly and we worked out a deal where we could park here.”
A full espresso menu is available at the Coffee Camper, as are chai teas, frappes, smoothies and decaffeinated and sugar-, gluten- and dairy-free options.
“We get our espresso beans from a roaster up in Morgantown called First Hand Co-Op,” Monnett said. “Our house blend coffee beans come from our absolute favorite coffee shop in Flagstaff, called Late for the Train. Our beans are special roasted in small batches from both of these shops — they’re really good.”
A favorite Coffee Camper concoction already is the Bulletproof, prepared with a high-caliber caffeine content. Ingredients include a shot of espresso, regular coffee, a spoonful of ghee and maple syrup.
“I have it in the morning and it literally keeps me going all day,” Monnett said. “It’s high caffeine and high energy.”
Other often-ordered drinks include the Mountain Momma, which is an iced vanilla latte, and The Gauley, an Italian soda flavored with coconut, lime and a splash of cream (“The name’s a wink and a nudge to whitewater rafting,” Monnett disclosed about the Gauley’s monicker).
Current seasonal choices include pumpkin spice and maple spice lattes.
Beverages aren’t the only beguiling attraction from the Coffee Camper’s kitchen, either. An array of pastries is available to savor, as well — made daily by Monnett herself at home and in the camper’s kitchen.
“People love the cinnamon rolls. They’re good, they’re big and they’re full of calories. I also feature different types of pies; pies are my forte. I make all of these things myself from scratch here in the camper. Afternoons and evenings when I’m home, I’m baking,” said Monnett.
Although the Coffee Camper has only a few weeks of history, Monnett said she hasn’t ruled out expanding in the future.
“If there’s a consistently slow day here, I may start to go downtown or up to the business park near the airport. I’ve got a couple of ideas of places to go if there’s a slow day here.
“We love West Virginia. We’re 99 percent sure we’re going to be staying here in West Virginia, putting down our roots finally. As soon as we know that for sure, we’re going to look into [opening] a building,” she said.
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