Co-founders Karlee and Stew Borst are brightening Happy Valley with Sunny Cup Coffee Cart, offering specialty coffee and refreshing drinks from their mobile cart —and ready to bring a little sunshine wherever they go.
Karlee Borst, originally from Florida where she met and married Stew Borst, has a deep connection to the Sunshine State, which inspired the name of their coffee cart.
“My husband and I’s best memories have always been in the sunshine and sharing a cup of coffee,” Karlee said. “So that just birthed the idea of Sunny Cup and now, even though we are in central Pennsylvania and the weather is not favorable, we hope to bring the sunshine with coffee wherever we are.”
Karlee Borst’s first visit to State College was a few years ago when Stew Borst, whose family is from nearby Tyrone, brought her to Happy Valley. Unlike her college campus in Minneapolis, she found State College lacked a significant coffee presence.
“The first thing I asked him when we came to State College was, ‘What coffee shop are we going to?’” Karlee Borst said. “I was shocked that being a college town, there wasn’t much of a coffee scene.”
The idea for Sunny Cup had been in Karlee Borst’s mind for years. After their family relocated to State College around four years ago, the former barista was eager to share her passion for coffee.
“It’s been overwhelming sometimes, juggling life as a mom and being a new business owner, and just trying to grow that,” Karlee Borst said. “I’m a mom of two, a new business owner in a relatively new area to us — more so for me. It’s all these new things I’m trying to navigate, but somehow it’s working.”
The cart’s first appearance was in mid-September at State College Strength and Conditioning in a soft launch. Many friends and family came to support, but new faces also greeted them.
“It’s been really cool to see that word-of-mouth has brought us a lot of customers, and people in our area definitely appreciate craft coffee,” Karlee Borst said. “So just being able to provide that is special.”
Most diners and coffee shops around Happy Valley use either Rothrock or Elixr beans. However, the Borsts chose Atlanta-based Valor Coffee for their cart.
“The reason behind that choice wasn’t a knock on either of the local places here. We truly just wanted to set ourselves apart from what’s offered here,” Karlee Borst said. “We actually sat down with the people from Rothrock and said, ‘You guys are awesome. You’re in every bakery, every diner. We just wanted a little piece of something different.’”
Valor Coffee also started as a mobile cart but has since grown into a wholesale business, roaster and two brick-and-mortar locations.
“As a new mobile coffee cart, I could relate to them. They had a lot of answers to the questions I was having,” Karlee Borst said. “In regards to being a new business owner and a mobile business owner at that, it’s different having a storefront with places to store things.”
Sunny Cup is an espresso-based cart, offering classics such as lattes, Americanos and cappuccinos, as well as chai, hot chocolate, cold brew and matcha.
The homemade syrups, however, are the stars of the cart. From their fall flavors of Spiced Pear, Pumpkin Salted Caramel and Fall Spice (featuring sweet potato purée mixed with clove, nutmeg, cinnamon and allspice), to their upcoming winter menu with flavors like Fig Vanilla Bean and Orange Cardamom Maple, the Borsts wanted to offer something different but delicious.
“When people came up to our cart, they were like, ‘I have to try this; it’s so different!’ and said they wouldn’t have picked it otherwise,” Karlee Borst said. “Offering things like that — not your average syrups of choice, but still delicious in any coffee — has been fun.”
The syrups can be added to any drink on the menu, including the matcha, which supports another local business, Thunder Thunder Tea.
The cart’s mobility allows Sunny Cup to attend events indoors or outdoors, providing more opportunities for people to experience local craft coffee.
“Unlike trailers, we can definitely come inside your buildings. We can pop up in an office, a classroom, or a teacher appreciation event,” Karlee Borst said. “We’re able to truly bring the local craft coffee shop feel wherever you’re at.”
Having the cart be so versatile has allowed the Borsts to expand where and when they can serve.
“That’s a key part of our business. We don’t want to limit ourselves,” Karlee Borst said. “We wanted to have the versatility to say, ‘Hey, if you want to do an event indoors, we’re more than happy to bring our machine and everything inside.’”
Being a new business and trying to stay budget-friendly, the cart itself is actually a reconfigured Husky workbench from Home Depot.
“A lot of people have told us they love the setup, so it’s been cool to tell them what it originally was,” Karlee Borst said. “We just tore it apart and made our own coffee cart.”
Although the Borsts aren’t ruling out the possibility of a future coffee shop, the mobility of the cart is exactly what they’re looking for right now.
“That’s the beauty of a mobile coffee cart. We can bring it to you or anyone who wants it,” Karlee Borst said. “Coffee brings people together, and I love that we can bring that experience to people anywhere.”
The first event in mid-September had been coming for a long time. They started the process in January by applying for an LLC, and it took several months for everything to come together, including licensing.
Since the first event, the cart has had a few more pop-ups from a stroller-fitness class, a Catholic school fall fest in Lock Haven and, most recently, Pop Up Ave in downtown State College, with more in the works for the future. For more updates on the Borsts’ next events, or if you want to have them at an event of your own, follow them on Instagram here.
