Bettendorf Magazine: Coffee Apothecary Wants to Save the Coffee Industry

In fact, when her mother approached her about opening a coffee shop, Schmidt, a Davenport native, decided she wanted “vintage apothecary” to be her shop’s entire aesthetic. She had been an avid coffee-drinker all of her life, and was looking to combine the highest-quality coffee with a welcoming, cozy environment and a vintage aesthetic one can’t find anywhere else in the Quad-Cities.

And thus, her pharmaceutical-themed coffee shop, Coffee Apothecary, was born.

“I think it’s really fascinating to see how far psychology has come, and dispensing herbs and drugs went really well with dispensing coffee,” Schmidt said.

The coffee shop celebrated its one-year anniversary on June 2. With a successful first year under their belt, Schmidt and her staff want to bring a new way of drinking coffee to the Bettendorf community, with a unique and positive energy, unconventional flavor combinations, and a sustainability focus that might just save the coffee industry.

A Carefully Curated Concoction

Schmidt has a strange affinity for old medical textbooks. She loves looking back to see how medicine has advanced through the years—especially psychology, which she has a degree in, along with business management, from St. Ambrose University.

A shelf located on the flowered wall holds Schmidts’ personal collection of old medical text books. Visitors can sit on authentic vintage lab tables adorned with old school lab beakers as they sip their concoctions, or lounge on one of two 20th century couches. Much of the décor came from West End Salvage in Des Moines or Industrial Artifacts in DeKalb.

“She loves vintage stuff. She’s always getting clothes from the 80s and stuff like that. Vintage stuff is really her thing,” said General Manager Hannah Swenson.

The décor pulls together to create a light and colorful space, with area space to gather with loved ones and a relic from the past to investigate at every turn. The baristas behind the counter invite you up with a smile and are prepared to dispense whatever coffee knowledge you request.

The welcoming spirit of both her staff and her space has helped Coffee Apothecary to cultivate close relationships with regulars in a short period of time. One customer brought old pharmacy antiques to fill an authentic apothecary cabinet. Another gave Schmidt a photocopy of her grandfather’s Certificate of Pharmacy from 1894.

Intentionality influences every decision Schmidt makes. From the names of the drinks on her menu to the staff she hires, every choice behind her business drives her toward her goal of Coffee Apothecary becoming one of the most unique places in the Quad-Cities with an emphasis on contributing to a greater societal good.

Finding Their Why

After curating her vintage interior, Schmidt shifted her focus to find vendors producing craft coffee and ingredients to create her menu. Onyx Coffee Lab, a coffee roaster out of Arkansas, caught her eye.

“Onyx is all about sustainability,” Swenson said. They purchase from small, family-owned farms and make as many adjustments as needed through solar energy to produce a rich, dynamic, fresh coffee flavor.

Schmidt and Swenson have focused attention on sustainability as they come upon their first anniversary. Recently, they chose to use sesame milk instead of almond milk, citing their sesame milk distributor Hope and Sesame that “30% of bees die when they’re trying to pollinate almonds and it takes 95% less water to make sesame milk.

In fact, Hope and Sesame asked Schmidt to be a part of their new barista board, a group of baristas who gather to discuss sustainability ideas within the coffee industry.

Onyx Coffee Lab strives to operate in both an environmentally and socially sustainable way, with eco-friendly, recyclable mailers and packaging and carbon neutral roasting processes. They also prioritize transparency in their sourcing and pricing, displaying exactly where their coffee seeds came from and how much the farmer was paid for their product, ensuring it’s a living wage.

This fair treatment of coffee farmers is imperative to keeping the coffee industry from collapsing.

“From what I learned at my training, when commodity coffee that uses lower quality beans is purchased, the price of buying coffee goes way down. So it’s not enough to pay the farmers,” Schmidt explained. “These farmers who have had these coffee farms their whole lives, that’s all they know. So they don’t know that they could be getting more money.”

The children of these coffee farmers then realize that these farms aren’t worth it, and decide not to continue the family business. Harvesting coffee is an arduous process, and the industry can’t afford to lose farms.

“If we don’t care about the sustainability of coffee and where it comes from and what we’re using, coffee is not going to be around 100 years from now,” Schmidt said.

A New Flavor Palate

Sourcing their ingredients from small, ethically-minded businesses helps Schmidt and Swenson not only make decisions they feel will make a positive impact, but also create high-quality craft beverage that are hard to find anywhere else in the Quad-Cities.

The coffee shop purchases craft syrup from pink House Alchemy, a woman-owned business located in an all-pink house in Arkansas that creates its own syrups, bitters, and shrubs. They offer an array of interesting flavors—like sarsaparilla, Mexican chile, and pumpkin butternut spice—created by their small team of in-house alchemists.

Schmidt and Swenson often experiment with these flavors to create new and unusual concoctions, often taking a few tries before landing on something magical. They each find inspiration in places one might not normally look.

“I’ve looked at lotions and thought, ‘OK, these lotions have these smells. I wonder if that one tastes good as an actual pairing?’” Schmidt said. “The Tamagotchi Effect (drink), which is pistachio, orange, and white chocolate, was a lotion that I had been using for my hands.”

Swenson relies, again, on intentionality when searching for new drink ideas. When they decided to partner with M.A.D. Therapy in Bettendorf for an event, Swenson stayed true to the theme.

“I actually went and researched what fruits or foods are supposed to help with depression or any of that kind of stuff. Chocolate was recommended, or different fruits and nuts,” she said.

Fighting Off Imposter Syndrome

“Imposter Syndrome” is one of the most adventurous drinks on Coffee Apothecary’s menu. Schmidt said people are often nervous to try the drink, which includes espresso, cream, sparkling water, and sarsaparilla, but that it’s one of her personal favorites.

Its namesake is also something she’s acquainted with.

Schmidt doesn’t always give herself the credit she’s due as a woman owning her own business. She’s also a young business owner, at age 33, and opened her first business in the middle of a pandemic.

“I worry people are going to think it’s a cliché when we say ‘women-owned,’ and that it’s going to be just an eye roll from them.” Schmidt explained. “But that’s something that deserves to be talked about. I have a lot of imposter syndrome. We collaborate with women-owned businesses all day long and I love to talk about it, but I don’t give that same credit to myself.”

Whether she sings her own praises or not, Schmidt’s presence in her shop influences her employees greatly.

“It being woman-owned is one of the reasons I wanted to work here,” Swenson said. “The biggest impact that I see is with our coworkers. We’re people who are very accommodating and understanding.”

After establishing themselves this year in Bettendorf, Schmidt hopes to continue building off the positivity and upbeat energy that abounds inside Coffee Apothecary. They hope to provide educational opportunities, events with other local businesses, and, of course, keep providing thoughtfully crafted coffee.

“We’re trying to redefine what craft coffee is. I think when people think craft, they think of espresso shots and latte art. We’re trying to put a spin on it and make it more fun and enjoyable so that it’s not the same traditional thing every time.”