Butter Sugar Coffee, more than it name suggests

There is more to Butter Sugar Coffee than the name suggests.

Sure, you can find traditional coffee house drinks alongside fresh baked goods, like waffle sticks, on the menu. And there is a drive-thru window for those who want their java in a hurry. But step inside its smallish confines and you’ll find herbal remedies and teas alongside oddities and curiosities.

Butter Sugar Coffee provides their customers with coffee drinks and baked goods, herbal teams and remedies, curiosities and oddities. All this at the same 10th Street locale in Independence. Pictured, left to right, are Megan, Alex Andrade and Valerie Ouellette. Photo contributed.

“I think people, when they walk in, they’re surprised,” Valerie Ouellette said. “They’re like, wow, what is all this? And they’re like, oh my gosh, I need some incense, or I need some essential oils. They’re surprised to find it on hand.”

Ouellette’s business partner is Alex Andrade. They chose to triple down on their inventory in order to increase clientele.

“I think it’s really hard in today’s market, like the post-Covid world. It’s hard to navigate on how you make money, and so you can’t just do one thing,” Andrade said. “You sort of have to do multiple things.”

Butter Sugar Coffee (BSC) is at 319 So. 10th Street in Independence. Just down the street from the downtown area.

“There’s no real drive-thru coffee shop at this end of town, and a lot of breakfast places have gone away. So we thought, let’s give everybody something that’s really good,” Andrade said.

BSC is down the street from the busier downtown area.

“People like to stop on their way out from the hustle and bustle of downtown. We’re not far from downtown, but we’re also close to residential areas,” Andrade said. “It helps that we’re open early in the morning, because there’s no place anywhere near here that offers anything better.”

Ouellette arrives at 5 a.m. to start baking. She agreed with Andrade about the quality of their products.

“We’re making food for them that’s healthier than frozen or processed stuff,” she added. “Not that fast food isn’t good in a pinch. But, you know, it’s not desirable to try and feed that to your kids everyday.”

In providing herbal remedies and teas, the partners have returned to their passion. In Ouellette’s case, it’s also a part of her heritage.

“My great grandmother was a medicine woman. So I’ve been studying plant medicines my whole life,” she said. “I think our Creator, if you will, provided all these things for us. They’re all here. We just have to learn how to use them.”

Effects from menopause, menstrual cycles, breast feeding, joints, fatigue, digestive issues and detoxification from marijuana can be treated by herbal remedies, Ouellette and Andrade said.

Andrade once owned cannabis dispensaries in Monmouth and Independence (where BSC is now). The state law that allowed for recreational use of cannabis negated why she entered that world in the first place.

“When (cannabis dispensaries) were medical, I really thought this is good, you know. People who are dying have an alternative to their pain and suffering,” Andrade said. "I loved helping all the patients because people had to have medical cards and have a diagnosis. So we helped a lot of sick people.”

Andrade added she was able to stock herbal remedies in her dispensaries, pre OLCC enforcement.

“When we went to OLCC, they did not allow you to do that,” Andrade said. “I wanted to carry on the tradition of herbal medicines, and we do herbal teas here. So if you are sick, or you have a dry cough or a wet cough, we can create teas and medicine, herbal medicine, for you.”

BSC also serves herbal teas to people who like to drink herbal teas.

“We blend teas. We weigh it out. And all of them are sourced responsibly. So we’re making sure … we know where everything’s coming from,” Andrade said. 

As for the oddities and curiosity shoppe, it’s a growing trend. BSC’s twist on it includes stocking such items as rodent skulls and skeletons, magic candles, wet specimens and insect casings. A lot of their stuff is fancied by artists. Small bones are used in jewelry, for example.

Completed art pieces are also available at BSC. 

“It’s just a unique, very niche market,” manager Brianna said. “People like strange stuff. I think metaphysical items, like Tarot cards and crystals and incense, have been around for a long time. So it’s kind of just a combination of all that.”

Curiosities have enough of a following to have their own extravaganza patterned after Comic Con.

Future plans for BSC include adding a back room for expanding inventory and increasing outdoor seating. Work is expected to begin later this year.

Hours of operation are 6:30 a.m. to 5 p.m., Monday through Saturday.