Coffee shop debuts at RS Welding

VICTOR — RS Welding Studio’s holiday open house, Christmas on the Farm, will feature a new service this year. Randy and A.J. Schnebbe are opening a coffee shop at their welding studio.

The Schnebbes usually have their open house during Victor’s Old Fashioned Christmas festival, and RS Welding will be open that day as well (Saturday, Dec. 14 from 9 a.m. to 3 p.m.), but the Schnebbes will be out of town for a graduation that weekend, so they’ve moved Christmas on the Farm to Dec. 5-8.

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“We’re basically open, and we are opening a coffee shop in our store,“ said AJ. The shop will be open Thursday, Friday and Saturday from 9 a.m. to 6 p.m. and will serve coffee, tea, hot chocolate, croissants, doughnut holes and cinnamon rolls.

“We’ll have our bar open,” said AJ, and will feature a Christmas-themed alcoholic beverage.

The studio will have a set with a chair beside a decorated Christmas tree. People can come to the shop and take family Christmas photos there, said AJ.

“Sunday, we’re having bloody Marys and Bingo.

“And we’ll continue to have shopping. We are now basically open almost every day until Christmas. Generally we want to be open as much as we can in December. And most of the time we’ll be open until six o’clock.”

RS Welding Studio will open for Black Friday this year, something its never done before, said AJ. The Studio will be open 8 a.m. to 3 p.m. and the bar will serve bloody Marys.

“We hope that our coffee shop will be open,” AJ said. If the inspection isn’t done by then, coffee, tea and pastries won’t be available until December.

AJ practiced making various types of coffee last week. She’s learning the craft from her friend, Maggie Zehr who formerly worked at The Blue Strawberry in Cedar Rapids.

“We’ll be able to have iced coffee and cold brews, and we have our roaster,” AJ said. “He is out of Marion, so he’s local.”

The house blend will be a mild to medium roast with an Ethiopian twist to it, AJ said.

“We’re just trying to figure out more things we can do on the farm,” said AJ. She’s been on the road selling product for about six months. After 25 years of it, she’s trying to find a way to stay home more and still serve the community, she said.

“At Home Grown Grace last summer, we rented a foam cannon, and we’re purchasing one of those so that we can have suds parties during the summer,” AJ said.

Home Grown Grace is a vendor fair hosted at the Schnebbe farm twice a year.

“We placed our coffee shop in the northeast corner,” said AJ. It can be a walk-up in the summer for Home Grown Grace and suds parties.

The coffee shop will be open Thursdays and Fridays from 6:30 a.m. to noon, Saturdays from 8 a.m. to noon and most Sundays from 1-4 p.m.

The studio is open week days from 9 a.m. to 5:30 or 6 p.m. and Saturdays from 9 a.m. to noon.

Customers should check the RS Welding Studio Facebook page for changes in hours, AJ said.