Jedidiah Coffee owners Steve and Embry Munsey cultivate community with coffee
From the beginning of their marriage, Steve and Embry Munsey found that their lives were centered around community.
Coffee became the perfect ingredient to bring that about.
As a manager of a Starbucks in the Quail Hill neighborhood of Irvine, Steve cultivated relationships with customers, and down the road, those regulars would encourage him to start his own coffee house.
The Munsey family started down that path roughly a decade ago, and it has led to the creation of their own business in Jedidiah Coffee.
Although Jedidiah Coffee remains without a brick-and-mortar café location, the craft coffee company is gaining a foothold in Laguna Beach through community gatherings and pop-up events.
The couple were the featured speakers Thursday for the Laguna Beach Business Club breakfast meeting at Seven7Seven, where they shared their passion with other business leaders in town.
That passion came through loud and clear when Steve and Embry began making the case for top-shelf craft coffee, aiming to dispel the notion that all coffee is the same by looking at the detail of a drink menu.
“There’s a ton of craft beer options, and then at the bottom, you have hot chocolate, hot tea and coffee, just like this afterthought — coffee is coffee,” he said. “That’s so not true. Coffee isn’t just coffee. … Coffee really is like wine.”
He would prefer that you be candid with him, too, telling those at the meeting that he insists that patrons complain if they find something wrong with his coffee.
Jedidiah Coffee isn’t just any name, either. The company bears the name of the Munseys’ second son, who was lost at the time of his birth.
Embry Munsey said the name was a suggestion from a close family friend, and while it can be bittersweet at times, it has been nice to be able to see and hear his name.
In choosing to honor their late son in this manner, Embry said it gives added incentive to follow through on the realization of this dream. They have been roasting coffee beans for 2½ years and operating in their own roasting studio at 2177 Laguna Canyon Road for the past year.
Community is where it all starts for the happy couple. Steve and Embry, both 38, met in Sydney, Australia, and they were married at 21.
Now they are entrenched in the Laguna Beach community. Their three children, Zealan, 14, Gideon, 8, and Liberty, 5, all attend classes in the Laguna Beach Unified School District.
“Zealan has been there hearing us talk about it all these years, and now we joke about it, ‘Well, now you’re going to be old enough to actually work there with us,’” Embry said. “He’s 14, and he wants to make muffins. He’s been a part of the process of hearing and seeing us talk about all these different ideas for the last 10 years.”
Embry said their goal is to become a community gathering place, the third destination in a person’s day, along with their home and workplace.
“What we’d love is a big spot … because we do want to be that place where people can come and sit and stay and gather,” Embry said. “We want to have a meeting space. … We want to have a space within our coffee shop where we can hold workshops or educational meetings with our local nonprofit partners.”
She added that they have collaborated with organizations like Pacific Marine Mammal Center, Laguna Beach Little League, the Friendship Shelter and Waymakers.
As their social circle continues to grow, the folks at Jedidiah Coffee have been able to serve the community through some pop-up locations, most recently doing so at the Marine Room since December. They previously operated in that capacity at the Vietnamese restaurant Another Kind Café.
Attendees asked the Munsey family various questions ranging from the “shelf life” of coffee to how best to learn about their upcoming events. They also received high praise from Peter Chang, the chief executive of the Pacific Marine Mammal Center.
“I’ve seen these guys in the community,” Chang said. “They’re nonstop. They’re everywhere. They are truly about building a community. They truly want to be part of Laguna Beach and surrounding areas.”
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