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Origins: The WELL Coffeehouse Pub & Eatery

January 9, 2020
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Natalie Gauvin has no interest in becoming a flight attendant, but her life’s passion follows the script.

“The airlines have it right, you have to put the oxygen mask on you first before you can be available to help others,” she said.

An aspiration to “be well” herself and help others do the same influences every aspect of her family/artist/fitness enthusiast/nutritionist/business owner life.

“I want to put out something positive and good in the world, from my artwork to teaching people how to move in their bodies and how to be comfortable in their own skin, to yoga, dance, Pilates, mindfulness — I’ve been in fitness for 25 years,” Natalie said. “And to nutrition, helping people understand that it’s easy to be well, and your body is a temple and you need to take care of it first.”

Every aspect of this vision is on display Monday through Saturday at the aptly named shop she opened in July 2016 in Liberty Lake, The WELL Coffeehouse Pub & Eatery. In fact, a previous version of her plans for The WELL included a fitness center. When she decided to open in Liberty Lake, she found a location across Country Vista Drive from a place close to her heart, The Mat, a yoga and martial arts studio.

“I just decided to take the food portion of (my business concept) and go with it, cause I live here and this is my community and the Mat is right there across the street,” she said.

An added benefit to opening up close to home is her ability to host community events important to her. Natalie, a trained mediator, thinks people should sit down at tables more often to talk about supposedly taboo topics like politics and religion. This fall, she hosted an event she billed as “controversial movie night” to help people get talking.

  • Natalie Gauvin

The “top dog, biggest priority in my life and world,” however, is her work building a local mindfulness coalition. Mindfulness is simply the ability to be fully present, aware and thereby not overly reactive or overwhelmed by external events. How is it practiced?

“Stand back, listen to your breath, close your eyes, feel that you’re human alongside other humans, and that’s all there is,” Natalie said.

She is particularly focused on getting mindfulness incorporated into the start of the day at local schools. After Central Valley High School went on lockdown in January 2018 when a student brought a gun to school, Gauvin organized a community gathering at The WELL attended by local public officials and concerned citizens to talk about mindfulness.

“We can’t make parents be better parents,” she wrote in an email around that time. “We can’t fortify schools overnight. We can’t change gun control overnight. We can teach mindfulness in every grade, every day, five minutes, overnight.”

THE NAME

While The WELL started out as a name, it has become a reputation Natalie is proud of after 3½ years in business.

Asked about what makes her best customers loyal, she doesn’t hesitate: The WELL is trusted to provide high quality, and “as much as we can, we go local and organic and sustainable.”

“(For example), I don’t use iceberg lettuce, I use really good romaine, and we triple soak it to get off as much of the pesticides as we can,” Natalie explained. “All of these are time-consuming steps that lead to the highest quality of something.”

THE VIBE

Natalie the artist is on display when you enter The WELL, which she describes in five words: “creative, warm, inviting, cozy, inclusive.”

Natalie is a painter, but her artistic talents are diverse. She has designed background sets for theaters, built her own furniture and performed and taught artistic dance.  

THE TOP PICK

Natalie said the Isagenix smoothies, especially Chocolate Peanut Butter Cup and Green Bliss, have developed an extremely loyal following.

“I think it’s a great product,” she said of Isagenix. “That’s something I’m really proud of offering here.”

On the food side, Natalie said the Thai Peanut Chicken Lettuce Wrap and Avocado Toast are both popular orders.

THE CULT FAVORITE

If you go to most coffee shops, it’s possible to order your cappuccino between 12 and 20 ounces – even down to eight in some cases. Except that, well, that’s not really a traditional cappuccino.

“When people come in and ask for a 16-ounce cappuccino, we always educate them,” Natalie said. “You’re just getting a foamy latte, and they are charging more for it probably.”

At The WELL, “we serve it like they do in Italy.” This is espresso topped with foam created by steaming milk, resulting in what is typically a 4 to 6 ounce drink whether people want it prepared wet or dry, she explained. The traditional drink has an intense flavor; that flavor is muted in alternative versions that add milk and foam to fill larger cups.

While it’s far from the most popular drink on the menu, The WELL’s commitment to serving the traditional cappuccino has developed a small but enthusiastic following, she said.

THE TEAM

In addition to Isagenix, Natalie lists Evans Brothers Coffee Roasters as one of the key partners in her pursuit of offering the highest quality products to her customers. Among the team members that make the shop run, Natalie listed her sons and her longest-tenured employee, Aimee Fassbender.

I want to put out something positive and good into the world.

Natalie Gauvin, The WELL

THE TIME WHEN …

A couple walked in holding hands just as Natalie was closing the store for the day.

“I said, ‘I’m sorry, we’re closed,’” she recalled. “And they said, ‘Oh. OK, well do you mind if we just look around for a little bit.’”

Natalie agreed, and the couple huddled in the corner, “making googly eyes and talking sweet to each other.”

As she picked up some context clues, Natalie began to ask about their story, learning that exactly one year prior the couple had met at The WELL on a blind date after connecting online. The woman said she had picked The WELL as a safe spot and promised herself a short date and that the two would leave separately.

“She said, ‘I don’t know if you remember us, but we sat here for four hours, and then I felt so comfortable I got into his car, and the rest of the date we just drove around and talked, and we ended up having dinner. It was a 13-hour date, and we haven’t been apart since,’” Natalie recalled.

THE INFO

Josh’s update (5/23/20): Natalie has updated her business model to include coworking space. For complete details of updated cafe hours and opportunities at The Well, consult the information below.


The WELL Coffeehouse Pub & Eatery
21980 E. Country Vista Drive, Liberty Lake
509-474-1187
facebook.com/libertylakecoffee
@thewellatlibertylake on Instagram

  • Thanks to Natalie Gauvin (at left and alongside employee Aimee Fassbender) for sharing the story of The WELL with me!
    — Josh Johnson (soccer jersey: Seattle Sounders FC)

While you’re here, would you do me a favor?

If you enjoy articles like this one, join the CoffeeJosh mailing list. It’s hurry-free, spam-free and also free … free. As a thanks, I’ll send you a PDF — you guessed it, free — that has 10 of the best coffee shop orders in the Spokane area. (All 10 are drinks and treats local coffee shop owners make for themselves. In this case, expect to pay for your order and feel like it was totally worth it.)

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Origins: Crush Coffee Bar

June 22, 2020
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At Crush Coffee Bar, the lid chooses the customer. That’s the honest truth as experienced by mother-daughter ownership team, Nichole Decker and Jazlyn Breesnee. There’s just too much evidence that the brief, handwritten messages penned on each individual coffee cup lid exit through the window into the very hands they were intended for.

Take the daily devotee who pulled up recently to Jazlyn’s window and reported a particularly long day.

“We just joke with one another all the time, and I said, “Oh, maybe your lid will say, like, ‘Keep pushing through,’” Jazlyn said.

What it actually said: “You are enough.”

Jazlyn regularly enjoys light-hearted interactions with the customer, but this time the woman drove away with tears in her eyes.

“I needed to hear that today,” she said.

The relational nature of coffee is why Jazlyn and Nichole do what they do.

“We want to make sure there is a really clear message that is going to uplift people — right now more than ever,” Nichole said. “We’re really careful with our words, and we get a lot of messages from people saying, ‘You just have no idea how this made my day.’ … We have some that will drive from the north side — it blows my mind — just for the conversation and the encouragement.”

Nichole said she and Jazlyn pray over the lids, and the team is regularly trained to watch for ways to be an encouragement. Some members of the Crush crew are people of faith and some aren’t, but Nichole loves how the entire team is purposefully relational and uplifting.

Nichole said she is often surprised by the reactions of customers. For one thing, she said men tend to look at their lid immediately — even moreso than women, although the messages even get to her from time to time.

“We write them, and I can still get mine and say, ‘Wow, I needed that today,’” she said.

And the reactions from young people consistently inspire Nichole to pen more messages of hope.  

“Sometimes they literally just need a couple of words just to feel like, ‘OK, I can make it through this day,’” Nichole said. “I’m shocked by the number of young kids coming through looking for that. We’re clearly missing that in this generation, because so many of them will just stop and take a look at those lids.”

Nichole and Jazlyn took over ownership of the business last fall from founders John and Stephanie Blanton. Both were attracted to the relational nature of the business and the team already in place — which included Jazlyn, who worked at Crush while a student at University High School before her graduation in 2019. The familiarity made the decision an easy one, coupled with Jazlyn’s desire to pursue real-life experience over going the college route.

“We always wanted a coffee stand, and we always talked about how it would be fun to do that,” Jazlyn said. “Then I ended up working at Crush, and it just went from there.”

A Realtor with John L. Scott, Nichole also brings a wealth of coffee experience from bygone days when she managed the Spokane Valley Rocket Bakery location.  

Both love coffee and coffee culture, but the fit had to be right. Nichole said the relational culture already in place at Crush as well as the team they inherited made the decision an easy one.

“The original baristas like Angela, Kayla, Riley and Traci were so positive with the sudden change of hands,” Nichole said. “They delivered the same incredible service they had for years and were amazing mentors to the handful of new baristas, as we quickly increased traffic at both locations.”

  • Tess and Anabel
  • Chloe
  • Jazlyn, Riley and Sierra
  • Kayla and Angela
  • Jazlyn and Traci

THE NAME

Nichole said among the many things that didn’t need tinkering when inheriting a new business: the Crush Coffee Bar name itself.

“We were super blessed to inherit a name that we loved and liked the logo and face behind it,” she said. “(We also) love the idea of ‘#crushinit’ for our hashtag, as we could use that to inspire people to Crush their day, going along with our positive, inspirational message and vibe.”

THE PRODUCT

Crush partners with a familiar name in the local coffee industry, Brian Ellsworth of longtime Spokane roaster, Waverly’s Coffee. Jazlyn said working with Waverly’s to dial in an original blend — one that has been refined by the discerning taste buds of Jazlyn and Nichole — is a fun talking point customers appreciate.

The Crush menu includes an array of specialty drinks such as the popular Caramel Crush mixed in with all of the standards.

Moving through the menu offerings, Nichole emphasized, “We do local everything.” De Leon Foods provides the breakfast burritos. Desserts by Sara provides treats, including hundreds of specialty cookies for fundraisers like Hugs for Jade. Feel Good Fuel provides healthy options.

“We chose all Valley businesses because we are in the Valley,” Nichole said. “One of our big missions is the giveback factor we can have in supporting local businesses.”

THE TIME WHEN …

Nichole and Jazlyn took over the Crush location on Sprague in October and the one on 32nd in December. The traditionally slower winter months would help them ramp up to when business typically blasts off in March.

Then COVID-19 happened. While Crush was allowed to take precautions and remain open, there were many who assumed it was closed.

That’s when the owners of a Spokane Valley promotional item business, Hill Billy Bling, surprised Crush with a complimentary sign that said, “Yes, Crush is open.”

Known for her big personality, barista Traci Russell hopped in a dinosaur costume, grabbed the sign and began dancing down the East Sprague Avenue sidewalk. From passing traffic to social media video, let’s just say it didn’t take long for people to realize Crush was, indeed, still open.

Nichole said that is just one example of how local businesses have helped one another out during COVID. Crush and Waverly’s partnered to bless the Valley Hospital night shift with coffee. Even so-called competitors in the Spokane Valley coffee network are really more of a community, and now more than ever.

A friend of Nichole’s owns the Shotzy’s location on Pines.

“We called each other when all of this fun stuff started and said, ‘OK, are you low on this? Do you need sugar? OK, I have an excess of that.’” Nichole said. “They are right in between my two stands. We could compete against each other or be like, ‘Well, I hope you run out of that.’ Instead, we both reached out to each other. She went to my stand to support us. …

“I just think there are some really amazing small business owners in this town, and even though we are in the same industry and are technically competitors, we get to work together and just have a different vision for everyone and not just selfishly for ourselves.”

THE INFO



13411 E. 32nd Ave. and
16923 E. Sprague Ave., Spokane Valley
www.facebook.com/CrushCoffeeBar
@crushcoffeespokane on Instagram

  • Thanks to Jazlyn and Nichole for sharing their inspiring daughter-mother adventure with me. #crushinit
    — Josh Johnson (soccer jersey: Huddersfield Town AFC)

Would you do me a favor?

If you enjoy articles like this one, join the CoffeeJosh mailing list. It’s hurry-free, spam-free and also free … free. As a thanks, I’ll send you a PDF — you guessed it, free — that has 10 of the best coffee shop orders in the Spokane area. (All 10 are drinks and treats local coffee shop owners make for themselves. In this case, expect to pay for your order and feel like it was totally worth it.)

Origins: West Plains Roasters

December 26, 2019
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It’s the end of a decade, and if 2020 Andy LaBolle could travel back and have a chat with his younger self, he would start by having 2010 Andy sit down and put on a seat belt.

“I would say, ‘Hold on, it’s nothing like you think it’s going to be,’” Andy said.

In November, Andy opened West Plains Roasters in downtown Cheney, a specialty coffee shop selling his own coffee to a community he deeply loves. That wasn’t the plan, but not much of what transpired this past decade went according to script.

“(Ten years ago), I thought I was going to live with family for the rest of my life and probably work at Starbucks,” he said. “A pretty boring life, but it was easy, it was comfortable, it paid my bills, it was safe.”

Andy pauses here to smile, and perhaps to take a breath before launching into his favorite run-on sentence: “And then I met a crazy woman who is all about adventure and changed everything and won’t ever let me be comfortable or be satisfied and always pushes me.”

Not all of the amazing adventures, risks and rewards of the past decade involved his now-wife, Hannah, though most of them do. Before they were married in 2013, Andy lost more than 100 pounds (down from a high of 330), and he was crushing it at his job at Starbucks. Not only did he wear the distinguished black apron (for baristas who have passed Starbucks’ Coffee Masters program), but he could move coffee product like no one else. He even has a plaque from the day he was working at the Liberty Lake Starbucks and led the nation in coffee sales.

After knowing each other as friends for a short time, Andy and Hannah took their first date hiking the Liberty Lake Loop in 2012 — and decided to get married by the end of the day.

Hannah was moving to Africa to work with missionary friends in Kenya, and Andy decided he wanted to not just marry this woman, but embark on a world of adventure together.

Their time in Kenya was cut short for several reasons, not the least of which being they learned on short notice that visas weren’t being renewed following a terrorist strike in that country. They spent a week in Cairo before deciding to return to the States.

That would be enough adventure to fill a lifetime for some people, but that leaves out Andy’s stint running a screamo metal concert venue in Otis Orchards called The Kave, “which was so rad … and random,” he recalled. That doesn’t mention the trip to Haiti or the restaurant jobs where he became so indispensable, in one case a Coeur d’Alene manager offered to pay for his gas from Cheney if Andy would, pretty please, reconsider his decision to resign. This also leaves out the time right after he was married when he was hit by a car while riding his bicycle, and regulars at the Liberty Lake Starbucks pooled together to buy him a road bike worth more than $1,000.

2010 Andy was anxious and risk averse. 2020 Andy would tell you that he is still anxious, but he has learned to be regret averse.

“Regret sucks,” he said. “That’s part of why we’re opening a coffee shop and why my wife’s a photographer and why we went to Cairo and why we went to Kenya and why we do the things we do.”

So, guess what, 2010 Andy: In November 2019, you open West Plains Roasters just down the street from the Eastern Washington University campus with a dream to share excellence with a community you didn’t know much about in 2010 — and can’t imagine life without in 2020.

  • Andy LaBolle at work …
  • … at his new shop in downtown Cheney.

THE NAME

For Andy, the location and name of his shop is not the result of market research and focus groups. The West Plains is home. His wife, Hannah, has roots in Cheney, and the couple is helping plant a church in the community.

“We care about this area, and we are going to stamp this area on our name because we believe the West Plains is a value,” Andy said. “This is where we want to be and where we want to pour into. We are proud of it, and we hope to be a standard of excellence in the West Plains.”

Andy quickly dismisses any worry that a name like West Plains Roasters puts geographic handcuffs on the future growth of his business. Admitting he doesn’t “have a clue if it will ever happen,” he said he has considered future locations in Airway Heights and Medical Lake.

“And just, that’s it: Three shops, three areas within the West Plains,” he said.

THE VIBE

The idea of a specialty coffee shop is new to Cheney, but Andy doesn’t use that as an excuse to downgrade the experience in any way.

He purchased top-of-the-line equipment across the board and designed the space in a way to appeal to families and students alike. The color scheme is whites and grays — “our only major pop of color is the plants” — and the high ceilings and open layout make the shop feel even larger than it is.

“Bright, vibrant, modern — the goal is to create a space that invites and is culturally appropriate for the dynamics of people coming to a specialty coffee shop,” Andy said. “Everything is really thoughtful and intentional, just like the coffee.”

  • West Plains Roasters’ open, bright and clean environment

THE TOP PICK

People are loving both the toast — and the toasted. The Toasted Cinnamon Latte is the best seller off the drink menu; it’s star quality is the house-made toasted cinnamon syrup.

On the eats side of the menu, the selection of five toasts may cause one to hold up the line while weighing the finer points of each craving. When in doubt …

“Our avocado toast is insane,” Andy said.

According to the menu, it features “our signature avocado mash topped with thinly sliced cured chorizo, pickled red onion, Cotija cheese and cilantro.”  

THE CULT FAVORITE

Currently listed as a “seasonal drink” on the menu, the Citrus Maple Latte features dark amber maple syrup with a hint of citrus bitters. On my visit with Andy, I ordered this with oat milk, and, Mom, I think I’ve joined the cult.

Divine.

THE TEAM

Andy employs a team of three at his downtown Cheney shop, and he counts Chai Leo (a Cheney-based chai company) and Coeur d’Alene’s MAK Bread as two of his favorite local partners.

THE TIME WHEN …

Both Andy and Hannah are curious hobbyists who excel as they follow their passions. Hannah is a professional photographer who stays busy enough that she is turning people away, but she started years ago by picking up a camera and teaching herself how to use it.

  • Hannah LaBolle’s photos are often featured on West Plains Roasters’ social media outlets

Andy dabbled for a while selling beard oil — “the Espresso Vanilla Beard Oil I sold smelled like a vanilla latte,” he said — but mostly kept it as a side hobby dealing with friends and family.

“Whatever takes less risk, I will do that,” he said. “Any hobby, I’m in. The minute you want me to make it a business and put on risk, I’m out.”

So when Andy decided he wanted to buy a coffee roaster, he was initially thinking of it as a fun side gig he could share with his group of friends. It was Hannah who believed in something deeper and bigger, breathing life into the dream that now has a storefront in downtown Cheney.

“She said, ‘I will support you in this if you will make it a business because you deserve to make it a business, you are capable of making it a business and you will succeed,’” Andy recalled. “And I was like, but it’s so risky. I’m just thinking of all the things that can go wrong.”

In the end, Andy said Hannah’s own success paving the way with her photography business coupled with her encouragement helped him overcome his doubts.

Most of all, Andy credited the continued work of God in his life. It was God who helped him pursue a better story with his life back in 2010, God who “pioneered this whole venture” with West Plains Roasters, and God who put a certain woman in his life to provide support, encouragement and the occasional nudge.

“I may be scared, but I’m enamored by courageous people,” Andy said. “I’m not a go-change-the-world-and-live-in-other-countries-and-who-cares-if-I-die person. That’s not how I operate. But (Hannah) is reckless in a loving and kind way, reckless in her commitment to doing what is right.”

THE INFO


108 College Ave., Cheney
westplainsroasters.com
@westplainsroasters on Facebook and Instagram

  • Years ago, I met 2010 Andy, and it’s been so inspiring to watch this guy’s story unfold. Thanks for sharing the latest chapter, my friend.
    — Josh Johnson (soccer jersey: Uganda National Team)

While you’re here, would you do me a favor?

If you enjoy articles like this one, join the CoffeeJosh mailing list. It’s hurry-free, spam-free and also free … free. As a thanks, I’ll send you a PDF — you guessed it, free — that has 10 of the best coffee shop orders in the Spokane area. (All 10 are drinks and treats local coffee shop owners make for themselves. In this case, expect to pay for your order and feel like it was totally worth it.)

1 Comment
    Rob Hartman says: Reply
    January 9th 2020, 9:26 pm

    Written by and about people I love—awesome!!

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