Cooper Ebel and a passion for making artisan coffee

About a month ago, a red canopy tent started popping up several times a week at the corner of the Courthouse Square in Morganton, the aroma of coffee lingering in the air where East Meeting meets South Sterling Street.

Underneath the tent, Morganton resident Cooper Ebel frequently sits, reading a book, waiting on the next customer to stop by.

“It’s a steppingstone into what I hope would be a more stable version of this,” Ebel explained, the sun creeping around the sides of the tent, which had been erected in front of Mountain View Pediatrics on that particular day. “In my ideal world, this could lead to even just a small brick-and-mortar place. I would be perfectly content making coffee for the foreseeable future.”

“I think there is a speciality to artisan coffee that still has space to grow, and I want to be a part of that.”

Funnily enough, when Ebel started making coffee nine years ago, he didn’t really care for the drink itself.

He was attending Trevecca Nazarene University in Nashville, Tenn., pursuing a bachelor’s degree in communications with an emphasis on film and TV production, when he had to choose between two jobs: working in the cafeteria or working in a coffee shop.

He chose the latter because it seemed more fun, and eventually, it grew on him.

“There was a very satisfying feeling to making something with my hands, when a lot of work I’ve done before has been either more intangible or less productive — more of a service than an actual product,” Ebel explained. “It was very fulfilling to make these things. As I started to get better at it, I started to feel a great sense of pride in the work that I do.”

Although Ebel bubbles with enthusiasm when people stop by his tent to chat or purchase a coffee, he explained that he’s quite the introvert. Despite that, people are still one of his favorite aspects of running a business.

“I find that my social battery is not very high, but people are just interesting,” Ebel said. “Everybody’s got their own internal world, and it’s way different and more vast, person to person, than you could normally expect. Even though my own energy isn’t quite suited for high social jobs, I find people fascinating.”

To recharge after a long day of peopling, Ebel said he likes to dabble in creative outlets like reading, playing Dungeons & Dragons with friends, going to the movies, and writing — particularly screenplays.

Inspired by the fulfillment he gets from his day job, Ebel said he’s recently picked up the craft again, looking to build on his passion for storytelling. His interest in film reflects the influence of his father, the man he said has had the biggest impact on who he is as a person.

His dad is a film editor, and several years ago, he received an offer to step out into self-employment and edit a movie.

“It was kind of a scary leap, because things were — (it was) a time in our family’s life where it could either make or break things, financially speaking,” Ebel explained.

Ebel’s parents suggested that he try the pop-up coffee shop, he said, and his dad detailed all the ways life would be more busy and how he would be more stressed.

“But he was telling me, he’s like, ‘I would never go back,’” Ebel said. “He’s dedicated and he’s driven and I admire it so much. It’s kind of what I hope I can be as I do this.”

Ebel whipped up a coffee, chatting about movies he’d enjoyed seeing over the last few months like “Obsession” and “Backrooms” and — “this one might be controversial,” he said — “Masters of the Universe.”

“It’s a little silly,” he said as the coffee machine hissed. “It’s not particularly well-written, per se. But I think it’s fun.”

As he finished making a cappuccino — white leaf of steamed milk and all — he settled back into his Carolina blue folding chair and opened a digital copy of Stephen King’s “The Shining,” patiently waiting for his next customer.