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New cafe and bakery opens in Newport
NEWPORT — Stampede Coffee Company started with a horse trailer.
After decades of a career in coffee that ended with two drive-thrus sold amid family health crises, Stampede owner Patty Rowe had gotten a job in property management instead. But another opportunity to work with coffee came years later — not at a shop or a stand, but in a horse trailer.
“I’m like, ‘Oh, this is my passion,’” said Rowe, 60. “‘I’m going with the coffee again.’” From spring 2023 onward, Rowe served coffee from her horse trailer at events in and around her hometown of Rathdrum, calling it Stampede Coffee Company. That got Rowe to where she is today: 231 S. Washington Ave. in Newport, the location of a brick-and-mortar cafe and bakery she opened April 12 under the same name.
The April 12 opening, Rowe said, was a soft opening. Stampede Coffee Company’s grand opening is from 9 a.m. to 3 p.m. Saturday, May 17.
“I’ve always wanted to do a sit-down coffee shop,” Rowe said.
Per its days as a coffee- only horse trailer, Stampede sells hot and cold espresso coffee in 12-ounce to 32-ounce sizes, ranging from $2.50 for a 12-ounce Americano to $7 for a 32-ounce Breve. For non-coffee drinkers, hot cocoa, steamers, spiced chai, Italian soda, spritzers, tea and energy drinks range from $3 to $6.
New to Stampede are baked goods and other sides made by Rowe, her daughter Miranda Bruder, 31, and her son John Rowe, 30. They rotate between scones, donuts, salads, cream pies, hand pies, wraps, sweet rolls and more, ranging from about $3 for one of each dessert to $8 for a salad. Stampede Fuel coffee beans and loaves of sourdough bread, the latter priced at $12 per loaf, are also for sale.
“We really just threw in the food as a little extra that people may want,” Rowe said. “But overall, the bakery really is what people are after.”
For now, Rowe is the only member of Stampede’s staff, though Bruder and John help her out between their commitments as a stay-at-home mom and a full-time worker.
Rowe raised her children on a farm in Rathdrum, so they grew up around horses and other livestock. Stampede Coffee Company’s name came from John’s remark that if Rowe were to get horse trailers for his wife and Bruder, Rowe would have a “stampede” of them.
“I’m like, ‘Wow, wait a second,’” Rowe said. “‘I think you’re onto something there.’” Rowe said she has always liked the Newport area. At first, she was scared off from 231 S. Washington Ave. by a 45-minute commute and the sight of elk and deer on her dark drive home, but its comparatively low price drew her back. Rowe soon reduced her commute from 45 minutes to about seven by moving to Newport herself toward the end of April.
Stampede Coffee Company is open from 9 a.m. to 6 p.m. Mondays through Saturdays, and Rowe will continue to use her horse trailer at events in Pend Oreille County.
“I’m very excited to really get to know the community,” Rowe said.
