Thursday, February 7, 2013

Chamber Welcomes Monarch Mountain Coffee


The Greater Sandpoint Chamber of Commerce welcomes Monarch Mountain Coffee and new owners, Leonard and Sherrie Wilson, to the Chamber. In February of 2012, Monarch Mountain Coffee changed hands and has since be rejuvenated with new blood, new changes but same great coffee, atmosphere and friendly staff.

Sherrie Wilson is an Idaho native from Boise and moved to Sandpoint five years ago when her husband, Leonard, had the opportunity to relocate his job to the area. Sherrie, after spending the last 20 years as a medical transcriptionist, the last two of which at Bonner General Hospital, thought this would be a good time chasing the dream to own her own coffee shop. She searched Sandpoint and the greater area for a prime location that wouldn’t take much to renovate into a premium coffee shop and always used Monarch Mountain Coffee as her benchmark. However, over the years of searching nothing seemed to meet Monarch Mountain Coffee’s mold. So, the dream was put on the back burner until one day she told the opportunity to purchase Monarch Mountain Coffee was available and in a whirlwind of magic, the dream of owning a coffee shop came to fruition.

Although Sherrie is the owner and operated, it is still a family effort with her husband, Leonard, being the Roaster. Monarch Mountain still has all of the historic blends and formulas you’ve enjoyed over the years. However, after studying the science of roasting and being completely methodical when it comes to roasting, you are still able to try some of their newer roasts.

Monarch Mountain Coffee is an internet cafĂ© with a growing menu all of the time. There are lots of organic items on the menu and they strive to be as responsible as they possibly can when sourcing their coffee. They do buy Fair Trade, Rainforest Alliance and Organic coffee beans when they are reasonable. Recently, they even acquired the ability to sell beer and wine which they will keep it local with Pend d’Oreille Winery wine and Laughing Dog Brewery beer.

‘Everyone is welcome and the customer is number one at Monarch Mountain Coffee,’ explained Sherrie. ‘We invite you through their doors and welcome you to stay as long as you’d like.’

The atmosphere is very comfortable and casual which makes it easy to bring your work, your friends, your meeting and your free time to one of their comfortable chairs. The friendly staff is very attentive but certainly not pushy. Come in a check out their Latte Special which rotates randomly as they see fit.

The Northwest Film Institute has decided to make Monarch Mountain Coffee the home of their movie nights on the third Thursday of every month at 7pm. Admissions is FREE but donations are accepted. Come and enjoy their movies and support or get involved in Sandpoint’s growing film scene.

The Greater Sandpoint Chamber of Commerce wishes Monarch Mountain Coffee continued success in our community. Visit them at their location 208 N 4th, next to the Post Office between Oak St and Cedar St, Monday-Saturday from 6am-7pm, Sunday 6am-5pm. For more information call 265-9382 or connect with them on Facebook www.facebook.com/monarchmountaincoffee.