By Tracey Lamm
For The Beacon
Tianna Lain is a self-proclaimed coffee snob. Her refined coffee palate and experience as a barista in a ubiquitous national coffee shop chain paved the way for the opening of The Muddy Cup Coffee Company in Oquawka, Ill.
Lain and her husband Shawn opened Oquawka’s newest business at 404 Schuyler Street, a location that has been many things over the years in this neat as a pin little river town. “It was a restaurant, then a barbershop, and then back to a restaurant,” Shawn Lain said. The location sat empty for five years before Shawn and Tianna snatched it up and renovated it to accommodate the coffee shop.
The Muddy Cup Coffee Co. is a traditional coffee shop – Tianna roasts and grinds beans on the spot and brews coffee espresso-style which allows for the creation of custom ordered cup of coffee. You will not find a can of Folgers or a Mr. Coffee here. The variety of coffees, energy drinks, and flavoring allows for 216,000 unique drinks available the coffee shop.
“This has always been a dream of mine. I’m a coffee shop person. I love that good relationship that you get with your barista. I want that here,” Tianna said while grinding beans for those who showed up last Tuesday for the soft opening of the business.
The coffee shop will also have Amish baked goods and fresh-baked cookies. A drive-thru window will be open soon. In addition to the shiny chrome of the espresso machine and the warm spiciness of freshly roasted beans, adding a unique flair to the coffee shop ambiance is custom wood countertops engraved with the Muddy Cup Coffee Co. logo. The warm wood and heavily lacquered countertops were designed by DC Custom Graphics of Bluffdale, Ill.
The Muddy Cup Coffee Company is open Monday-Saturday 6 a.m. until 1 p.m. and Sundays from 7 a.m. to 10 a.m.