With a plethora of roasters in the city, it can be tough for a new, local, micro-roaster, to break into the coffee scene. It helps to have connections by already working at a coffee shop, but it takes more than that, it requires gumption.

Moonshine Coffee Company is the brainchild of Michael Walcher and Shawn Person, two baristas at Quixotic Coffee in the Highland Park neighborhood of St. Paul. Shawn, a previous roaster at Dunn Bros. acquired a Probatino back in the heyday, and for quite some time he and his wife Megan had worked farmers markets in the Twin Cities selling their own coffee. The Upright Coffee Brigade and the Public Coffee House may ring a bell, but Moonshine, while familiar in venue, is an entirely new venture.

Farmer’s Markets themselves can be more than tricky. To brew coffee, in its simplest form, requires electricity, water, coffee, grinder, and a brew method. How to set up such a thing at a Market is not the easiest, but the Moonshine crew has polished their routine down to an art.

Brewing only 8 oz. coffee – only 1 origin a week – the team mans up to 3 Chemexs at a time. Each requires a person to brew, and generally a fourth to boil, dose water and grind beans. But as anyone who has tried to brew coffee outdoors, there’s a lot to combat. Weather, tired customers, farmers waking up, water supply, cup supply, etc. are only some of the obstacles the team must endure. This past Saturday I got to join them, on one of the coldest Fulton Farmer’s Markets of the season. Apparently, or so I was told, it was a relatively slow market, but we were brewing almost non-stop, and this can only be attributed to the fact that as the cold front comes in (but not yet the snow) everyone and their mother wants a warm beverage in their hand. Business was good.

The trio have developed quite a following. I’ve had numerous customers come to the Bull Run Coffee Bar who tried pour-over coffee for the first time at Moonshine. Someone today came in asking where he could find the beans, which, for those that don’t know, are only 3 locations. Saturday mornings at the Fulton Farmer’s Market (49th & Chowen, 8:30am – 1pm), at Quixotic Coffee (769 Cleveland Avenue South, STP) and beginning in October, at France44 Cheese Shop (4351 France Avenue, MPLS) where the retail mason jars will be available for purchase, as well as French Presses to drink.

If I have anything to say about Moonshine, it’s that it – to me – is a grass roots movement of a coffee company. Chemexs take time and a brew method rarely seen by many Minnesotans other than the occasional “that’s how my [insert relative] used to brew coffee.” Farmer’s Markets can be hit or miss depending on a lot of factors, the least of all being the number of Minnesotans that vacation during Summer weekends. But as a business they are going up against insurmountable odds. They don’t have the capital to provide equipment to any wholesale accounts. The Probatino roasts 2lbs at a time. And while there may be dreams of opening a shop, that in and of itself is a struggle. The ace up their sleeve is the coffee with the highest focus on quality. If you’ve ever met them, you’ll know that they are – simply put – perfectionists. Countless hours at Quixotic and Cafe’ Imports has only helped them to up their game and the game of their coffee. And that’s what Moonshine Coffee is: just coffee.

But the name says it all. Something brewed, surreptitiously, that is illegal and let’s admit, sometimes it feels like good coffee is illegal in the Twin Cities. The logo, the jars, all pay homage to the Prohibition era, and while we’ll watch closely to see where Moonshine goes, for now, go grab a cup and marvel at how people our age, interested in coffee, are striking out on their own to make coffee their way.

-Gordon J Bellaver

P.S. And I have to steal a little thunder, cause I came up with the name. Hopefully it’ll rectify any grievances from also coming up with the name of Quixotic.