Java joint provides jolt and 'extreme' barista artwork in your cup

MOSES LAKE — The newest coffee shop in town is certainly something like a family affair.

Bob and Marna Juarez, longtime residents of the area, have long been big coffee drinkers, to the degree that Bob has been roasting his own coffee beans for the past year and a half. Running a coffee shop has been something they've wanted to do for at least five years, in hopes of being a positive addition to the community.

"We wanted to do something for ourselves," Bob said. "We love coffee. It's something that we researched. It's just the idea that we can offer our own, because we roast our own coffee."

"We wanted something interesting to do for a living," Marna said.

That something interesting, the Juarezs' new establishment, Rhapsody in Brew, opened March 15 at 1520 S. Pioneer Way.

"It's really three businesses," Marna said. "It's really an espresso bar, a roastery and a bakery."

Bob has been researching coffee beans for years. There are different types of roasting. Most of the companies that supply big chain stores or do their own do large batch roasting, while Bob says his is more like a microbrewery.

"Special, small amounts of product, so the micro-roaster is what they've kind of named this type of business," he said, noting that there's been an upward trend to provide different blends of coffee. Quality is controlled easier by doing smaller amounts of coffee. "It gives us a fresher product, and you get better control on your cost, for one."

"It's really gotten to be a science, almost like wine-tasting," Marna said, adding that a representative of the Seattle Barista Academy trained most of the Rhapsody staff, including six baristas. Marna said they like to call the baristas "extreme" baristas, because they are doing latte art using the frothing of milk and the way it is poured into a cup of espresso, resulting in a design like a heart or a rosette.

"They have competitions across the country where people have drawn the Mona Lisa and the Eiffel Tower," Bob and Marna's daughter Amber explained. According to Marna, the baristas enjoy a friendly competition amongst themselves.

While the Juarez children — Amber, Aaron, Andrew, Adrian and Amber's daughter, Ashlyn — all have their own lives, Marna said they have enjoyed learning about the business.

"As the daughter, I think that's what they do all the time — is drink coffee," Amber said of her parents, who also have an espresso machine at home. "In the morning, they make coffee. With company, it's 'Who wants coffee?' The word 'coffee' is never not mentioned in this family."

Amber said that Rhapsody prepares Americanas the way she likes them, and Aaron is also a "coffee extremist." Andrew works in the establishment several times a week and loves to do latte art. Adrian helps out, as does young Ashlyn, 5.

"We're just coffee people," Marna said. "And we like other coffee people."

Marna and Bob said that the various coffee places in town work together, sharing their input and exchanging ideas.

"It means we're growing if there's more places for people to go," she said. "It's amazing how nice they are and how they share."

Nina Nye, trained in England as a chef, and her family are Juarez family friends. She manages the bakery portion of the business, with the assistance of barista Casey Corral.

Nye, a resident of Moses Lake for 4 1/2 years said she wants to provide a bit of everything, including some English offerings, which have proved to be quite popular.

"We're just kind of being open-minded, I think," she said. "Some things, nobody buys and we say, 'Ok, we won't do that again.' Then there are a couple of things which we just have to keep making … The sausage rolls, which is a very English thing, that keeps going. If we run out of those, we're in trouble."

"She offered to do this," Marna said. "We were so thrilled, she's a friend and I don't know how we thought we were going to do muffins and cookies, just us."

Rhapsody in Brew is open from 6 a.m to 6 p.m. Monday through Friday, from 7 a.m. to 6 p.m. Saturday and closed Sunday, although extended hours are being considered.