Today marks the first day of operation for the coffee shop at 231 N. 13th St. in the 13th Street District, the former home of West End Perk. With doors open at 6 a.m., they will close sometime in the mid-afternoon.

Owners Matt Wilder and Anthony “Tony” B. were not prepared for how quickly Most Wanted Coffee would take off — or for the first day. Wilder said they passed the food inspection on Thursday and opened the business on Friday without experience or having tested the equipment.

“We just went out there, blowing fuses, throwing breakers,” he said, laughing. “We had too much power going to our generator. We were having a heck of a day, and it was pouring rain, but we still killed it.”

Opening the business in their hometown helped bring customers to the trailer, but what clinched the deal is the plethora of drinks, such as Americanos, lattes, espressos, drip coffees, and flavors offered. Tony said they have more flavors than the chain coffee shops like Starbucks, Dunkin Donuts and Scooter’s.

Anthony “Tony” B. selects a syrup from the bevy that is available in Most Wanted Coffee. The owners separate themselves from the chain coffee shops by providing every flavor and coffee drink a customer could want.

“We have every flavor you can imagine,” Wilder said. “That’s kind of our whole niche. Any flavor of coffee you come in for, we’re going to have it.”

Tony said they try to separate themselves from the “big dogs” not just with their flavor combinations, but also the coffee beans that are used.

“This right here is the magic, the bean itself,” Wilder said. “We partnered with a company called Creation Coffee. It’s awesome. They have the best beans.”

Tony said he spent weeks hunting down the perfect bean for Most Wanted Coffee. Since opening, they have been approached by other roasters with free beans, but none of them have passed the test.

“It’d be hard to get us to go away from our current bean, and so far, no one has matched the challenge,” he said. “People don’t get a stomach ache. We’ve had many customers tell us they don’t have stomach issues and they like the bean. It’s not too strong. They don’t get the jitters.”

Plus, Creation Coffee beans do not seem to “flush the system” of the customers. Creation Coffee is based out of Michigan, but the beans hail from Costa Rica and Guatemala. Wilder said the coffee beans are always “super fresh.”

“We don’t keep beans in our shop for more than five days,” he said. “That’s why we don’t carry decaf. We can’t sell it like we do regular coffee. We sell maybe one decaf to every 3,000 caffeinated drinks. Quality is important to us.”

Most Wanted Coffee will not just offer the standard flavors and drinks. They will add their own twists to separate their products from competitors. With the holidays right around the corner, the winter flavors are standing by. Unlike the beloved, or reviled, pumpkin spice found at numerous coffee shops, customers will find Pumpkin Pie at Most Wanted.

“Everyone does pumpkin spice. We do Pumpkin Pie,” Tony said.

Wilder said there is just enough of a difference in the flavors of the drinks for customers to notice.

“It’s a subtle difference, but enough to know something else is going on,” he said.

Wilder and Tony place a lot of focus on developing their drinks, taste testing different combinations to determine what their customers would enjoy. On Monday, they unveiled the Banana Hammock, which Wilder believes will be one of their more popular requests.

“Whenever a new syrup gets created, we buy it in bulk, and then we sit here and experiment,” Tony said. “Between the two of us, it took 30 minutes of taste testing 15 different combinations [for the Banana Hammock] to get the most perfect quality.”

On the shelf by the drink machines, behind the sneeze glass in Most Wanted Coffee, there is a smorgasbord of coffee syrups.

“We put that creativity into every bottle of syrup,” Tony said. “That’s what separates us from everybody else. We’re going to come up with a combination, a flavor and we’re going to keep that flavor as long as possible.”

The coffee trailer will still be in operation, but it will not have the bevy of flavors the brick and mortar has. In fact, the Most Wanted Coffee trailer will be in Waterloo on Nov. 26 and Nov. 27 for a holiday event. Wilder also hopes to open additional locations in the future. But first, they want to get the 13th Street District spot up and running.

The customers will continue to see Most Wanted’s presence on social media. Tony has been the man in charge of the Facebook page, and the owners believe that is another reason the business has grown so quickly. They have a tendency to push the envelope with their daily jokes and trailer location announcements.

“We’re doing it the way we want to do it, not the way everybody else thinks it should be done,” Wilder said. “People like that.”

“I think it’s a breath of fresh air,” Tony said. “I think everybody wants to be themselves, but they are scared. We get comments daily on our energy on Facebook. The conversation we have with people is half the business.”

COMPANY INFORMATION:

Name: Most Wanted Coffee

Address: 231 N. 13th St.

Phone: 641-751-6138

Hours: 6 a.m. to 2 p.m., Monday through Saturday

Website: Facebook

Contact Lana Bradstream at 641-753-6611 ext. 210 or lbradstream@timesrepublican.com.