We've had a lot of good times in our tiny 160 sq. ft. space on Gallivan Avenue, but bigger things are on the horizon!

We will soon be opening our new door at 165 South Main Street.

We will have longer hours, a large pastry and baked goods selection, a few more beverage options, and a whole lot more seating!!!
Check back or follow us on our social media accounts for updates about opening parties, new hours, and to see how the new shop build-out is coming along.
Thank you,
-Nick

62 East Gallivan Avenue, Salt Lake City, Utah 84111.
Sunday, January 17th from 5pm - 8pm!

​Bring all your friends and come hang with us the day before we officially open! Our baristas will be serving beverages from our menu for FREE, and From Scratch will supply delicious baked goods for everyone to sample.

Hope to see you then!
Three Pines Coffee

Do you know how annoying it is that I can’t tell you when we plan to open? It’s like, I’m about to have a baby, and I can’t tell you when she’s due. It’s driving me nuts!

Our shop is finally starting to look and feel like a shop, so much so that people have been cupping their faces and smashing their noses into our windows all morning and afternoon. “Come in! Come have a look around,” Nick says and ushers them inside, as I rush out with windex and paper towels to wipe away the nostril smudges. (You never know when a representative of the health department is gonna pop in!)  

We have finalized our menu. We have some exciting beverages to offer you. My favorite right now is made by shaking house-made almond milk, vanilla, espresso, and ice together in a martini shaker. It’s current title is “ice-shaken vanilla almond espresso and milk”, but it doesn’t quite fit on our menu right now, so we are working on the name. It is seriously the bomb though!

Our ceramics shine and twinkle like sunlight on fluffy snow. Our first batch of Heart Coffee will arrive in a few days. We have organic milk ready and waiting to be picked up. ​

We can only work on the build-out of our coffee shop during the hours that From Scratch, the restaurant we are partnering with, is closed. So that leaves us with a few windows of a couple hours each day. We can work before lunch service, between lunch and dinner, and after dinner.

I like to compare our schedule to the schedule of an inmate who can only dig her escape route with chiseled toothbrush stick during specific times, such as when the guards are asleep or when everyone is out to lunch. 
​
Since we have some hours to kill in between work sessions, we recently took up a new hobby. 

What I love about rock climbing is that it requires no socks, taking a fifteen minute break to snack on a granola bar or read a magazine is perfectly acceptable, and the community is so friendly and helpful.  

Jade, Nick, and I took our first belaying class last night. Our teacher, Phil, taught us with humor and patience. I enjoyed the thrill and adrenaline of climbing, the excitement of learning a new skill, and the feeling of being inside my body as I pushed it to its limits. 

Phil taught us how to tie a perfect figure eight knot. He taught us about double checking all of the safety features, and how important it is to stay attentive and prepared for any surprise situation. 

He then went on to teach us the verbal commands used in belaying. Since coffee is always on my mind, I couldn't help but draw a few comparisons between the commands and the understanding Nick and I have cultivated as business partners.

Before the climber begins, he says "climbing" to which the belayer says "climb on", basically reassuring the climber that the belayer is ready to securely assist him up the mountain, and more importantly down.  

I remember asking Nick at the very beginning of our coffee adventure, "Why couldn't we do this? Don't you think we are ready?" and him saying "alright!" We both needed to fully be on board with this idea before we started.

During the climb, if the climber needs a break, she will call down "Take!" and the belayer will respond with "Gotcha". There have been several times during the start-up phase of this business where I have had to say to Nick, "I don't have an answer for this right now. Let's sleep on it." We trust that the other will keep up the slack while we are hanging on the side taking a breather.

My favorite climbing command of all though, is the one that has been used most by me in this business. This command makes me realize how lucky I am to have a partner with so much energy and passion. Just like on the climbing wall, within our business partnership, when I can't hold on and I yell "falling!" he always responds with "I gotcha!"

As we finalize our plans to open our brick and mortar coffee shop, we would like to thank you for your kindness, support, and for allowing us to "pop up" on your patio this past summer.
 
Steven, thanks for being a gentleman in every encounter. When we moved to town, you were the first person to say "yes!" to our coffee bar, and we do realize you were taking a risk allowing this eager couple to roll their cart outside of your store and cause all sorts of ruckus.
 
We will miss our conversations with the Lhf staff about spirituality, inspiring books, and what kinds of cheese best pairs with specific situations such as a picnic at a lacrosse game or date night involving a quintin tarantino film.

 Here's to saying "yes!", and here's to good food and good people!
 
Cheers,
Three Pines coffee

The musicians in L.A. taught me a method to determine whether or not to work with an artist or accept a tour.  They called it, "The Great Trifecta".  They said there are three questions to ask yourself:

1. Do I like the people?
2. Is the pay worthwhile?
3. Do I like the music? 

If the artist, band, or tour contains two out of the three, take the gig! If it is missing two, think long and hard before moving forward. 

I decided to apply the trifecta to this new coffee business.

1. Do I like the people?

Let me introduce you to a few regulars of ours. I recently met Holly, a new entrepreneur, who is excited to start up her knitting company and is currently updating her Etsy shop to be ready in time for winter orders. She chats with us about musicians and local shows as she knits and sips on an eight ounce, single-shot espresso and milk.

Matt works with troubled youth by transporting them out into Utah's wilderness. He teaches them new social and life skills in a supportive community under the stars. He does this year round. He admits that his kids teach him about himself as much or more than he teaches them about life. He sets his skateboard alongside his eight ounce espresso and milk as we chat about being transplants from L.A. and Chicago.

Being at the cart every day affords me the opportunity to really get to know the community, an experience that is new to me, since I've been a constant traveler for most of my twenties. I relish the familiarity and the relationships that are forming because of Three Pines Coffee.

And I have to include working with Nick in this category. Some people might argue that working with a significant other is risky and not worth the trouble. I have to disagree. Nick has been nothing but hard-working and dedicated from the moment the idea of this coffee business first popped into our heads over a meal of chicken tamales. Sometime he gets frustrated, sometimes I get down, but we always pick each other up and remind each other why we became so passionate about this project in the first place. And honestly, I could have never done this thing without him. 

Do I like the people? Yes! I like the people.

2. Is the pay worth it?

Well, to tell you the truth, I'm not sure about this one. This is our first coffee shop, and Nick and I are learning about the financial side of things as quickly as possible. As musicians we never cared about whether we were paid or not at a show. (A fact that constantly tormented my parents as they watched their naive teenagers galavant across the country in a van and trailer.)

At this point we aren't bringing home the big bucks, but we are making enough money to move forward and continue on with our concept. So, as far as the trifecta is concerned, this question would have to be answered in the negative at the moment.

3. Do I like the music (or in this case the coffee?)

This question requires no further examination. Yes, I like the coffee! If I'm going to dedicate all my time and energy into starting a new company, it is extremely important to me that I am a fanatic about the product that I'm selling. And Nick's constant tinkering around the espresso machine, experimentations with new coffee beans and brewing methods, and time spent on Matt Perger's Barista Hustle blog, proves that he also loves the coffee!

That's two out of three, ladies and gents. Happily Three Pines coffee passes The Great Trifecta, and my musician friends would nod in consent as we take the ultimate gig with Three Pines Coffee.

How do your life choices fare when you apply The Great Trifecta?

In spite of having to wake up at the ungodly hour of 5:50 a.m., Nick and I still feel lucky to be running our coffee cart at Liberty Heights Fresh in Salt Lake six days a week. 

We are banking on us, and we still have faith (even after the initial growing pains of opening up,) that we have the gusto it takes to get this thing off the ground. And by "thing", I mean our dream of eventually opening up our own, quaint little coffee shop… but there I go, daydreaming again. 

We've been serving at Liberty Heights Fresh for about a week now. Steven, the owner of the shop, is filled with so much energy. He runs the store like a captain runs a pirate ship: compassionate yet firm when a problem arises and needs attention, cheerful, vibrant, and inspiring when waters are calm. 

The staff has been so thoughtful and supportive. They always tell us that "everyone loves the coffee!" They bring us crispy snicker doodle cookies and crumbly peach scones throughout the day. 

I think the biggest challenge so far has been rushing our humble beginnings in order to meet our future visions. 

We are the new kids on the block. Instead of a line that stretches down the sidewalk, we have a few curious passerby stopping by to check out the coffee cart. Each and every one of these people has a story, and I'm just as curious to know their story as they are to know ours. 

We are visited by moms pushing their baby strollers and walking their toddlers to their first years of school. "Not too much caffeine please." We have young professionals working on growing their baby businesses just like we are stop in. "Load 'er up! How about a quad shot!" We also have had a few retirees discover us on their walks around the neighborhood. "I'll have a cup of coffee please." (They are always so polite.) We tell them that we only have pour-over coffee and that it will take about five minutes. "That's fine," they say, "I've got plenty of time…" 

Sometimes Three Pines turns into the meeting ground between lovers, between siblings, between co-workers, and I love being partly responsible for creating the environment where their connection takes place. 

Still...

When I close my eyes I see succulent plants in milk-colored mason jars placed in the center of marble community tables, industrial, shiny-grey cement floors, tons of natural light, excited chatter, people working on their dreams on laptops, in notebooks, on napkins, while sipping on an espresso. 

But there I go daydreaming again…