Missourians

Java Joints

Posted at November 12, 2008 13:03

Missouri Life readers share their favorite coffee shops

By Sara Shahriari

Coffee gathers people together in public spaces where they share news, food, art, and ideas over a cup. The drink first made its way out of Ethiopia and into the Middle East in the 1400s, and more than six hundred years later, many in the United States consider it a daily necessity. Missouri is no exception to coffee obsession and is home to 146 Starbucks stores alone.

Missouri Life asked readers to tell us about their favorite independent coffee shops, and now we bring you the recommendations from each of our five regions.

Partisanship was rampant, the race was hotly contested, and coffee-for-votes schemes can’t be ruled out. After all, all’s fair in love for coffee. Overall, these favorite shops offer quality products, a fair price, and a comfortable environment for community conversation. Of course, each shop has its own special traits, from highly environmentally conscious business practices to a seventy-five-cent bottomless cup of coffee. So come explore some of our readers’ favorite places to get a coffee fix and reconnect with friends and neighbors.


Rendezvous Coffehouse, Columbia
3304 Business Park Court, 573-446-4034

Rendezvous Coffeehouse enthusiasts love the friendly personalities of owners Lori Sander and Stacey Slaughter.

“They’re very personable. They know you by name when you walk in the door, and they know what you want,” says frequent customer Jenna Sheffield of Midway.

“We both like to take care of people, and our first jobs were customer service, in retail,” Lori says.

“I have spent all day there several times, studying and working, because my internet goes out when it storms,” Jenna says. “I’ll go down and get breakfast, lunch, and sometimes dinner.”

Rendezvous, which opened in 2004, has a large coffee menu and a small meal menu that includes sandwiches, plus biscuits and gravy on Saturday and Sunday mornings. Their chicken salad, made from a secret recipe, is also popular.

Java.net Books and Gifts, Cuba
418 North franklin, 573-885-4442

Java.net Books and Gifts is Missouri’s multi-tasking coffee shop. Along with serving Kaldi’s coffee, snacks, and light lunches, it hosts a gift shop, a book exchange, a library, and a quickly growing book club.

“They’ve brought a big-town atmosphere to this little-bitty burg of ours,” says Catherine Edelen of Cuba.

Java.net is located in a renovated Coca-Cola storage warehouse. Owners and native Missourians Mary and Joe Miller renovated the building, doing much of the work on their own.

“I was real apprehensive of making such a big step after having a nine-to-five job my whole life,” Mary says. “I originally was just going to open a bookstore.”

Kim Robinson of Cuba says that Mary will go out of her way to find a special book or gift for which a customer is searching, often finding it online and ordering it.

Mary also runs a system that allows patrons to trade in their books. If they want cash, they get 10 percent of the original price, or 25 percent of the book’s price toward buying books at Java.net.  “It has just been a lot more fun than I thought,” Mary says. “I’m living a dream, there’s no other way to put it.”

Philadelphia CommunityCenter, Philadelphia
2999 County Road 13, 573-439-5008

“It’s just a little coffee shop where all the people in the community can come in,” says Faye Chitwood of the Philadelphia Community Center’s coffee shop. In a population of about 450, the shop is one of just a few places Philadelphians can get some breakfast, a cup of coffee, and catch up with neighbors in the small northeast Missouri town.

“Mostly farmers and retirees gather there for fellowship,” says Faye, who volunteers at the center.

Plus, the shop’s price can’t be beat, at seventy-five cents for unlimited coffee. Sure, there are no frozen skinny mocha cappuccinos, but as Faye says, “It’s just an enjoyable place to be.”


The Coffee Ethic, Springfield
124 Park central square, 417-866-6645

Jim Hamilton and Tom Billionis began The Coffee Ethic as a for-profit, for-good enterprise. Jim says the store, which opened in December 2007, was founded on three principles: produce the best coffee; value people, including customers, employees, the supplier, and the community; and care for the earth.

All of the store’s coffee comes from PT’s Coffee Roasting Co. at Topeka, Kansas, and is single-origin coffee. “That means that the coffee comes directly from one place,” Jim says. “It doesn’t come from a country; it comes from a single farm.” This helps ensure both the quality of the coffee and that the people producing it are being paid fair prices.

The business is located in downtown Springfield, and Tom and Jim hope its presence will be part of revitalizing the area. The store is constructed using some unusual materials. The countertops are walnut salvaged from an ice storm two years ago, and the doors that separate the store from the county library are wood salvaged from an Arkansas tornado in the 1970s.

Tom and Jim focus on buying coffee at fair prices and use a top-of-the-line Clover brewer, which brews one cup at a time. They also support groups that seek to improve the lives of coffee growers around the world. Jim says growers in places like Rwanda often bring their product from their mountain farms to market on dangerously decrepit bicycles. The Coffee Ethic contributes to Bikes To Rwanda, a program that helps farmers get safer transport to market.

Benetti’s Coffee Experience, Raytown
6109 Blue Ridge Boulevard, 816-516-0893

“We didn’t just put lipstick on a pig here,” Ben Helt says of the building he and his wife, Sarah, renovated to house Benetti’s Coffee Experience, which they co-own and opened in 2007. Their friend, Jeff Page, a local realtor and business owner, purchased the rundown building, and together the three undertook a massive renovation.

“We located where we did to help spark the rejuvenation of our downtown area,” Ben says.

Ben, who formerly worked in public relations for a school district, likes what the presence of a coffeehouse means for a community, both spiritually and financially.

“For centuries, coffeehouses and places that serve something for indulgence’s sake have been places where people connect, where you can have those cultural discussions and share ideas,” he says.

Ben buys his coffee and roasts it with a gas drum roaster. “You’re going to find a drum-roasted coffee to be a little more earthy,” he says.

The shop also serves homemade soups and wraps.

Ben and Sarah try to bring artwork into the shop as well through juried art shows, which can range from paintings to music to edible gingerbread art. Their ultmate goal is to have art that is accessible, interactive, and relevant, Ben says.

A year and a half into the business, Ben is enjoying the work and what it brings to Raytown.

"I’ve been blessed," he says. 

December 2008

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