CHEYENNE, Wyo. — Cheyenne’s only specialty coffee company is striving to capture the spirit of the great outdoors in a cup, and gaining national recognition along the way.
Scott and Julie Gondzar opened Snowy Elk Coffee Co. in 2017, hoping to bring locally sourced and roasted coffee beans to the capital city. The company consists of a roastery and a blue storefront located off of 6002 US-30. Unlike regular coffee, specialty coffee has distinctive flavors based on where the beans were grown, processed, sorted and roasted.
The duo were trained to craft specialty roasts by the Specialty Coffee Association, but picked up their own tips and tricks as well. Scott used to work in the beer brewing industry for several years. His experience and knowledge comes in handy when roasting coffee beans, as the process is similar to the complexity of brewing beer, Julie said.
Before they opened Snowy Elk, the Gondzars would roast coffee beans in their garage. Six years later, the company has entered their blends into the nationwide Golden Bean competition, and sells their medal-winning drinks every week.
“We started out literally roasting coffee in a popcorn pan in our garage to roasting on a commercial-size industrial coffee roaster and having our own manufacturing facility and storefront,” Julie said.
The company competed in Golden Bean in 2019 and 2022, winning a mix of bronze and silver medals. This year, Snowy Elk won bronze medals in the follow categories:
- Guatemalan Natural Swiss Water Decaf – Decaf Category
- Howlin’ Wolf Espresso – Milk-Based Latte Category
- Wild Mustang Espresso – Milk-Based Latte Category
- Vedauwoo Moon – Milk-Based Latte Category
“We’re always trying to learn and improve and roast better coffee,” she said. “[Entering into a competition] is a way to critique ourselves and see if we can do better, what we can improve.”
Caffeine and competitions aren’t the only things that energize the owners. The Gondzars have a passion for living an “adventure-focused lifestyle” and want the Snowy Elk brand to reflect that.
“We thought it would be a really great story to have our coffee represent an adventure that we’ve loved,” Julie said.
One example of this can be seen in their summertime limited-edition roast, Misty Mountain, which is flavored with notes of chocolate, savory spice, dried fruit and citrus. It’s a must-try drink for newcomers, according to Julie, and the blend is always brewing when the storefront opens. Her personal favorite, though, is a black Morning Bugle, which is a light roast with a hint of caramel. Locals will also appreciate the Vedauwoo Moon, a dark roast with dried fruit flavors, spice and molasses cookie that was inspired by a camping expedition to recreation area.
“A lot of people in Wyoming would probably know what a Vedauwoo Moon is, but outside of Wyoming nobody can pronounce that one,” she said. “It was inspired when we went camping in Vedauwoo under a full moon, and I though that would the perfect name for a dark roast.”
Snowy Elk Coffee Co. is located in a blue warehouse on 6002 US-30 in Cheyenne. The shop is open from 3 to 7 p.m. on Mondays, Wednesdays and Fridays and from 7 a.m. to 3 p.m. on Saturdays.
