COLUMN: Are coffee drive-thrus the new car wash?

Those watching Charlotte County’s Community Development reports have spotted a trend.

It started shortly after Murdock Circle’s Starbucks opened in time for last year’s Peppermint Mocha season.

Remember when we eye-rolled over every new mattress store, storage facility or car wash? Now we’re awash in boxy coffee drive-thrus. It happened so fast you’d think the things were, well, caffeinated.

Port Charlotte’s current crop of drive-thru chains all seem to have different gimmicks revolving around positive vibes, if not truly high-quality beans.

Among them are 7 Brew Coffee, an “elevated” drive-thru experience that aims to “cultivate kindness and joy” while serving “you-nique” drinks outside Charlotte Harbor’s Publix.

The 1,600-square-foot Aroma Joe’s Coffee Shop, at West Port’s Tamiami Trail and Centennial Boulevard, boasts ethical sourcing and artisanal roasting.

Little Brix Coffee, at 844 Tamiami Trail just north of Toledo Blade Boulevard, is the organic-coffee brainchild of two local brothers.

Ellianos Coffee, an 800-square-foot double drive-thru at 19175 Peachland Blvd., has the most tempting menu, serving not only Italianate coffee, but also muffins, cookies, sandwiches, bagels, cheesy grits breakfast bowls, shakes, smoothies and ice cream freezers.

And the 1,500-square-foot Kahwa Coffee at 19580 Cochran Blvd., is a St. Pete-based roasting, retailing and subscription powerhouse.

Apparently Englewood, too, will be part of our new caffei-nation.

Ellianos franchisor Susana Aubert reports that her next Ellianos Coffee drive-thru will pop up somewhere on South McCall Road. And upbeat Nebraska-bred Scooter’s Coffee will soon energize the snoozy Obee’s plaza on South Indiana Avenue.

WHY THE BEAN BOOM?Whether or not it represents officially certified, graded coffees, a 2023 survey by Brainy Insights reports that the North American specialty coffee market is expected to grow 20% per year until 2030, making it the fastest-growing market in the world, driven in part by millennial tastes and “coffee-of-the-month” subscription services.

The local boom, says Los Dos Cristianos coffee entrepreneur Christian Mortimore, has several other drivers.

“Our part of the world is growing, and more people from other states and countries are bringing things that they know and have but don’t see here,” he said. “And specialty coffee as a market is growing, so there is a market for the top 5% of coffee produced.

“We were the first in North Port, and we knew this day would come. So, our focus is really on two key factors: a quality product and quality of service.”

LOS DOS CRISTIANOS, MORE THAN A DRIVE-THRUThe local specialty coffee market perked up significantly seven years ago, when North Port gained a unique new “bean-to-cup” café. Los Dos Cristianos Coffee was named for its two founders — Christian Ibarra, born in Mexico, and Christian Mortimore, born in England.

Los Dos Cristianos is one of very few locations in Southwest Florida to import all its own green coffee beans, roasts and grinds them, serves the coffee and distributes it.

And in the end, part of their proceeds benefits Latin American children as well as local charities.

They donate food and healthcare for thousands of children through Metro World Child, where they currently sponsor seven children. They also donate to Living127.org, which supports Latin American orphanages like those where the two Christians worked during a 2014 Honduras mission trip.

“We eventually realized we could best help people, not by giving them money, but by increasing and contributing to their business enterprise — in the case of Honduras, coffee,” said Mortimore.

The team proceeded to import green beans and supply fresh-roasted coffee to local Florida institutions, opening the North Port shop with Mortimore’s wife, Danielle.

They’ve since been certified to grade their coffee according to SCAA (Specialty Coffee Association of America) quality standards, selecting only the top 5% highest-quality coffee.

“Now our coffee quality is scalable,” said Danielle, “in case we choose to open more locations.”

Which they’re about to do again, in HCA Florida Fawcett Hospital, Port Charlotte.

Los Dos Cristianos has supplied coffee to local restaurants, coffee shops, hotels, hospitals and churches before, but this is something new for them: a franchise, in the hands of employee Jessica Strelkov.

Danielle explained, “We’re a fan of ‘crawl, walk, run.’ We like the Starbucks model in the sense that franchising is a great way to grow.

“But we were also inspired by Domino’s Pizza, where something like 90% of franchisees actually worked in the store before they became franchise owners.

“We’ve done the same: Jessica has worked at our store and now owns this new franchise. She understands everything about the coffee making and coffee. We feel this is a great business model and, more importantly, allows our staff to grow.”

The new shop, expected in August, will serve the same food and drinks as North Port.

But, Danielle added, “We’re going to offer more food because we feel the wonderful folks at the hospital, and its patients and guests, will require more food offerings. One of them will be a special Honduran food that I fell in love with there. What is it? You’ll just have to come in and ask for the Honduran special.”

Los Dos Cristianos Coffee ($), 941- 483-6516, 1120 Plantation Blvd., North Port, is open 7 a.m. to 2 p.m. Monday to Friday, 8 a.m. to 1 p.m. Saturday.

The Fawcett Hospital Los Dos Cristianos Coffee Shop ($), 941-303-3495, 21298 Olean Blvd., Port Charlotte, will open in August.

HOME BRED AND BREWEDTwo popular locals will also launch non-chain coffee klatches soon.

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The Wrasse family of Port Charlotte and Uncle Nick’s Pizza loves all things spooky and Halloweeny. You can expect their HallowBean Coffee Co to serve plenty of all that out of the unit beside Uncle Nick’s Pizza in Murdock Carrousel.

Amanda Wrasse says that HallowBean will be a small sit-down and takeout café offering a variety of freshly brewed, espresso-based drinks, drip coffee and teas, along with sandwiches and pastries.

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Of all the times when his specialty products — chaga, reishi, maitake, crimini, oyster, king trumpet, lion’s mane, Portobello, brown Beech — could’ve helped us most, the pandemic closed down Bill Nelms‘ magical mushroom storefront.

But Nelms — THE Mr. Fun Guy — still maintains a mushrooming farmers-market business that sells more kinds of fungi than you’ve likely heard of to a blossoming community that uses mushrooms as medicine.

Even better, his Mr. Fun Guy storefront at 20020 Veterans Boulevard is due to reopen.

Those who remember Nelms as the eponymous “Philly Billy” of another Port Charlotte café will be glad he’s back in the local eatery biz.

Nelms loves mushrooms. Soon he’ll be brewing coffees with them, too.