Lighthouse Latte coffee shop opens
If you’re looking for a cup of java and some homemade goodies, there’s a new coffee shop that just opened in town on November 12.
Lighthouse Latte is located at 114 North Mercer Street beside Mike’s Service Center, which is across from the Ice House.
It’s a new business for Heaven Sent Cakes and Sweets co-owner Janet Younker, who started that custom-order baked goods business nine years ago with her mother Glenda Thompson. Heaven Sent Cakes and Sweets is located next door to the coffee shop.
Lighthouse Latte has expresso, cappuccino, latte and steamers, which are steamed milk with a flavor like chocolate or raspberry for non-coffee drinkers. They also offer herbal teas and hot and fresh donuts on demand and have free Wi-Fi for customers, Younker said.
Donuts are a vanilla cake donut and have chocolate, peanut butter, white chocolate, cinnamon and sugar or powdered sugar toppings. Younker said she’s going to experiment with a maple topping and some other toppings too. She sometimes has sliced pies, cheesecake and other desserts available.
Younker also has a host of varieties of homemade candies, gummies, fudge and even chocolate-covered expresso beans for sale as well as some favorite store-bought chocolates.
She also makes Easter eggs with all homemade centers, Rice Krispie treats in animal and holiday shapes and her creation The S’mores Stick, which is a toasted marshmallow on a graham cracker that’s dipped in chocolate. Younker said she has almost 3,000 chocolate molds and also offers a sugar-free candy collection too.
“You’ll never know what you’re going to find. I keep them guessing,” she said of their stock of goodies.
Younker uses Land of a Thousand Hills community trade coffees at her shop. A 1994 genocide devastated the coffee industry in Rwanda. Purchasing their Rwanda coffee, her favorite of their coffees, helps the community where the beans are grown.
A portion of the proceeds go toward the organization Cure, which provides prostheses for children that have lost limbs, she said.
At her business Heaven Sent Cakes and Sweets, they offer homemade cakes for weddings, anniversaries, birthdays and special occasions as well as homemade cream and fruit pies and cookies, all by special order. Pies have all fresh fruit and nothing canned, she said. They also make fudge and cheesecakes.
Younker felt called spiritually to open her businesses on that corner. She wants people to know that her coffee shop is also a ministry and hopes for it to be a place of healing. Those who are hurting and feeling lost and without direction are welcome to stop by for a listening ear and prayer, if desired.
“God is a healing God. Nothing is too big or small,” Younker said.
People have been finding her coffee shop by word of mouth or by walking up the street and discovering the aroma of fresh coffee and baked goods.
Younker hopes to have iced coffees and frozen mochas available in the summer.
Lighthouse Latte is open 7 a.m. to 7 p.m. on Monday, Tuesday and Thursday, 7 a.m. to 10 p.m. on Friday and 9 a.m. to 10 p.m. on Saturday. The shop is closed on Sunday and Wednesday. For more information, call 304-258-5429.
