Charlo's newest corral sells coffee

Charlo has many corrals in and around the town, but only one Coffee Corral. The full-time drive-through coffee shop is located right next to Coulter Automotive on Hwy. 212.

Owners Lauren and Brandon Jensen launched the Corral Feb. 3. The shop is open 6 a.m.-5 p.m. Monday through Friday and 8 a.m.-4 p.m. on Saturday.

According to Lauren, Lotus drinks are the most popular. The Coffee Corral offers about a 100 plant-based energy drink flavors and different bases to mix a myriad fun and colorful drinks. They offer a special Lotus and coffee each week. 

For Cinco de Mayo, they served a mojito mint-lime cucumber Lotus with lime wedges and cucumbers in the drink and a spicy tamarind straw. 

Smoothies are popular at the Corral, along with mochas, lattes, and most other coffee drinks. They also offer white coffee, which isn’t too well-known in Charlo but was a “must have” in Oregon where the Jensens moved from. 

“It’s got more caffeine than regular coffee, but it’s lighter and has a sort of nutty flavor,” Lauren explained, plus it’s her favorite treat. “It’s been fun introducing white coffee to people.”

For hungry as well as thirsty customers,“We try to keep bagels on stock; we have muffins and Danishes,” Lauren said. 

She’s hoping “if business is good and people like having us here” they can build on a kitchen and offer breakfast items or lunch choices for the high school kids.

The whole crew at the Coffee Corral enjoys making new drinks for people to try. Charlo-ites seem open to trying new things even if it isn’t their cup of Joe – and it might just become their new fave. 

The Coffee Corral has some Charlo history in its bones.

“My husband built the shop … The tin and a lot of wood on it came from the old Palmer Dairy so a lot of it is very old,” Lauren said. “He repurposed some of the materials from the property itself.”

The shop is charming and very tidy inside. Besides syrups, Lotus fixin’s, extra cups, spoons, and stir sticks, the Jensen have a big supply of Poverty Bay coffee. It’s the special roaster they use to produce their rich-tasting brews.They sell bags of ground coffee if folks want to make the smooth eye-opener at home. 

Lauren and Brandon spent a lot of time researching, watching videos, and trying out a lot of coffee to see what was right before choosing Poverty Bay, a Seattle firm, as their roaster.

“The roaster we went with wanted us to do well,” Lauren said. “He wanted to go over so many more things with us than any of the other roasters had; he did a really good job with helping us gain the base knowledge we needed.” 

She also said the people they bought their machine and equipment from “really gave my husband a good tutorial.”

Finally, Lauren had thanks for Paije Bauer, who shared her experience as a barista.

“Paije kind of gave us a good little run down. We had a machine at home that we’d been practicing on for quite a while before we even got the one at the shop going,” Lauren said. 

In addition to Bauer, Coffee Corral workers include Lauren, Brandon, their daughter and Brandon’s sister.

The Jensens moved to Charlo in October of 2021 from Canby in the Willamette Valley in Oregon. They have three children – a 16-year-old daughter, and 6-year-old and 5-year-old sons. They live on 20 acres at the north end of Charlo where they raise horses, cattle, kids, dogs, chickens, and one tough farm cat who made the move with them.  

The couple had a construction company in Oregon, and Lauren is a union pipefitter by trade. They had talked years ago about having a coffee shop, and now they do. 

“People are glad to have a coffee shop here,” Lauren said. “It’s very welcome so that’s great.” 

    The Coffee Corral in Charlo was partially built from repurposed tin and lumber from the old Palmer Dairy, north of town. (Berl Tiskus/Leader)