Most of us find enjoyment brewing our steaming hot coffee in the morning before a long day of work, or simply to warm our soul as the day unfolds. Many New Eng-
landers, love it ice cold in the dead of winter, scorching hot in mid-summer, and strong in flavor and size. As for Melissa Bouchard, she has been a coffee lover for as long as she can remember.
Melissa is the owner of the infamous Coffee Craving trailer off the side of the road on 459 Calef Highway in Lee, New Hampshire. It is the home to exotic coffee flavors, delicious baked goods, and a lively community.
“I was inspired to start Coffee Craving by two basic things; my love for coffee and having a really hard time finding a place that had real flavored coffee without using the syrups,” said Melissa.
Prior to taking off in her business, she moved from Maine to New Hampshire, and for a few years was a stay at home mom. During this time she found herself being inspired after spending money at coffee drive-‘thrus’, only to come home and dump most of it out.
“It just wasn’t how I envisioned it should taste. Somewhere around this time is when the concept of Coffee Craving was born,” said Melissa.
Her business began in May of 2014. It took Melissa three years of researching and improvising to finally come up with the design of her first trailer. The idea of it all was to make the set up as affordable and mobile as possible. This gave the business freedom to head in any direction where there is demand.
At first, Melissa attempted placing herself in a driveway location where passerby’s would see the trailer and stop in for a treat. She was there for almost two years until she found her permanent location in Lee, that was larger and had access to buildings and facilities.
“Success did not come overnight,” said Melissa. “There were many days that we had only four or five customers in the beginning. I worked the majority of the hours in the trailer myself because I could not afford to hire anybody.”
The hard work and determination paid off because Coffee Craving is a location that cannot be missed whether you live two hours away, are a University of New Hampshire (UNH) college student, or a local Lee resident. Melissa was able to upgrade to a new trailer with more electricity, air conditioning and more space and stability. (See new trailer below.)
“Once you step inside, you actually forget you were in a trailer and it feels like a building. We love it!” Said Melissa.
What makes Coffee Craving even more awesome, is the contents inside the marvelous trailer. As stated earlier, Melissa appreciates coffee that has unique and distinctive taste. She enjoys the realness of it all, the feel good aroma of that morning drink.
“Our coffee is flavored during the roasting processing small fresh batches at time of our order. None of our coffee is pre-sweetened EVER,” said Melissa.
The goal of her whole operation was to create a ‘consistent and unique environment and experience with a really good product and a homemade touch.’ Melissa is always finding things to make people’s days feel warmer and meeting the needs of her customers. Some of her most popular and unique flavors are; Thin Mint, Almond Joy, and Purple Haze. Some of her personal favorites; Peanut Brittle, Mocha Almond Fudge, Banana Foster and Hawaiian Brownie.
“I love evolving and adding new things like our CBD coffees and tea, bagels, as well as creating new flavors. I’m proud to be able to offer multiple Gluten Free and Vegan items as well as non-coffee items like the homemade lemonade and chai as well as flavored red bull drinks,” said Melissa.
Melissa cannot emphasize enough to try the donuts! They are fresh to order and will only take a few minutes of your time to be presented warm and fluffy. All donuts come in plain and cinnamon sugar. Yum!
Melissa has had much success with her business from being featured on New Hampshire Chronicle and also participating on many events and fundraisers around the community, especially on the campus of UNH. Being able to collaborate with UNH and charities gives the opportunity to give back and have people enjoy it.
“We love UNH. We love the vibe and energy. The students are so fun to interact with-I love seeing people’s reactions to the flavors. It’s a great chance to connect with our customers and gain valuable feedback,” said Melissa.
Melissa is continuing to thrive in her business and is enjoying every aspect of it. She loves having her own business and being able to maintain all the work that comes with it when it comes to social media communications, administrative work, and maintaining inventory.
“My lifestyle can be very demanding and it is not for everyone, but I feel very blessed and fortunate to be on this path with Coffee Craving and my supportive community behind me,” said Melissa.
As an UNH alum myself, I was a frequent Coffee Craving visitor. One of my greatest memories from college was jumping into the car with friends and taking the drive to get a coffee at 8 AM or 4 PM. I recommend to call students, residents of Lee area and beyond to make the drive to get your cup of coffee. Jump in your car, put your seat back, and enjoy the ride. You will not be disappointed.
Check out Coffee Craving and be up to date on flavors:
Melissa Bouchard
Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/COFFEE-CRAVING
Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/coffee__craving/