The history of the Mokaska Coffee Company will be presented at the Downtown St. Joseph Library Saturday morning.

Mokaska Coffee Head Roaster Andrew Montee said the original Mokaska started in the late 19th century in St. Joseph as a coffee roaster and other food service production facility but went out of business in 1929.

“When we started our business we kind of saw that there was this really rich history of coffee production and roasting and we kind of wanted to restart that aspect of locally sourced and roasted coffee,” Montee said.  

The Mokaska Coffee Company started roasting coffee over a year ago and eventually opened a cafe at 617 Felix Street.

“Our coffee shop allows a place for people to come in and sample anything, try any of the rotating selection of 10 to 12 different coffees that we have at any time and kind of some of the other neat ways that we’re trying to innovate the coffee industry,” Montee said.

Montee will present about the history of Mokaska at the downtown library Saturday.

“It’s something that a lot of people don’t even realize was part of St. Joe, it’s something that’s really unique. Not that’s there’s anything wrong with St. Joe and its ties to the Pony Express, but there are a lot of other cool things, aspects about this community, this city, that a lot of people just weren’t even aware of,” Montee said. “So I was really excited when I got the opportunity to do this because we’ve done a lot of research on the business, the history of it, and I’m pretty excited about showing that and sharing that.”

The History Speaks program will be presented beginning at 10 a.m. Saturday at the Downtown Library, 927 Felix Street. 

Mokaska coffee shop hours are 7 a.m. to 5 p.m. Monday through Friday and 9 a.m. to 3 p.m. on Saturdays.

Montee said the coffee shop will be open all day on Saturday with First Saturdays and Holidays at the Square taking place.