Little Scratch Coffee opens new ‘brew lab,’ cafe in Mount Vernon

MOUNT VERNON — Most coffee shop owners encourage customers to come into the shop or drive-thru for their daily habit. But Little Scratch Coffee owners Katrina and Joel Anderson want you to know how to make it at home, too.

In August, the former co-owners of Wake Up Iowa’s coffee roasting and distribution business opened up their cafe’s walk-up window for Monday hours to give coffee drinkers in Mount Vernon a “brew lab” for something more than a cup to take away.

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The Andersons, who departed from Wake Up Iowa in Iowa City after seven years in the industry, wanted to build something different — a concept that didn’t quite fit into the “coffee shop” box.

“With a brew lab, there’s experimentation and learning implied. With my background as a teacher, that’s always part of my philosophy,” Katrina said. “It’s keeping that mentality of a learner, and that growth mindset that I haven’t mastered everything and I have a lot to learn. Sometimes people think it’s an inaccessible body of knowledge ... but we’re just trying things and exploring.”

It’s about building community to discover the complexities of coffee in an accessible, unpretentious way.

How they got into it

Before they got into roasting, the Iowa natives just drank a lot of coffee as they worked in Chicago. There, Katrina taught high school English while Joel worked as an audio engineer.

They started thinking about coffee a little bit more as they planned their exit strategy to return to Iowa, where they wanted to raise their first child.

Friend Jarrett Mitchell, founder of Wake Up Iowa coffee, noted that customers outside of the Iowa City area were always asking for his coffee. Before long, the couple started roasting with him in 2015.

Today, their new business will continue its focus on roasting.

“A big part of our business is distribution of beans for people to brew at home, so we will keep a couple days as production days with our small crew,” Katrina explained.

After getting to know their customers more intimately through farmers markets, the brew lab continues the direction that has kept the Mount Vernon residents engaged with something they think of as more than a beverage — a place where they can sell beans on their own terms, and where they don’t have to set up or tear down weekly.

What they offer

The vibrancy of Mount Vernon’s Main Street District keeps residents as business owners in town, too. The Andersons will serve food in partnership with other local businesses like Aaron Hall’s Local Crumb and Jen Juhl’s White Tree Bakery.

“He takes my Scandinavian inspiration and guides it, in a way,” Katrina said — drawing inspiration from pastries that focus on flavors like almond and cardamom that complement coffee without being overly saccharine.

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With five profiles of espresso featuring a rotation of flavors from the world’s best coffee growing regions, Little Scratch has a penchant for lighter, nuanced roasts — one of the principals of third-wave coffee. Customers can get pour-overs in any of their profiles, like the current one from Ethiopia, or water-processed coffees that are uncaffeinated.

A traditional menu will feature crafted, espresso-based drinks like lattes and cortados, made with syrups and ingredients produced locally — like bitters from Emma Barber’s Rhubarb Botanicals.

In addition to teas and a nice hot chocolate, the menu also will feature seasonal treats like a turmeric latte.

Off the beaten grind

But unlike the average coffee shop, Little Scratch Coffee also offers subscriptions of beans, as well as gift subscriptions.

Soon, they hope to offer classes and activities that build community, like coffee brewing workshops to talk about the best way to make pour over coffee or a French press at home.

“That info is on the internet, but people like to gather and practice and talk about it,” Katrina said.

Comments: (319) 398-8340; elijah.decious@thegazette.com