Evergreen, Colorado is about 29 miles of Denver, nestled in Jefferson County. The little mountainous town holds a very active community. You can go hiking, camping, golfing and in the middle of town sits a beautiful lake where people go to engage in water activities. When you enter into Evergreen you’ll find yourself driving through Downtown Evergreen, surrounded by local souvenir/ clothing stores, restaurants and bars filled with live music. The atmosphere is very inviting and the locals are ultra friendly.

For the past three years I traveled to Colorado, I always found myself coming back to Evergreen. The first time I visited Evergreen, my girlfriend was craving coffee, but she didn’t have a craving for Starbucks, she wanted to check out a local coffee shop. Coincidentally, we rented an Airbnb in Evergreen and with it being my first time in Colorado, I was excited. It was later in the year at that time, the leaves were on their way to changing colors for the fall season and the air was cool and crispy. To get to and from the Airbnb, we had to go up, down and around the mountains, then go deeper into the mountains, up a hill then down another steep slope to get to the house. That morning, we typed in “Coffee Shop near by” into the GPS and the first place that popped up on the list was “Everbean by the lake”. It wasn’t far from us so we made a quick decision and headed towards the coffee shop. As we pulled in, we couldn’t help but to look that lake that sat in front of the shopping center where Everbean resides. The sun bounced its light off the surface of the lake and created a beautiful yet blinding reflection of itself. As we entered in the coffee shop, we were greeted with warm autumn smiles. I can’t remember who the cashier was for the life of me but what I do remember was the delicious and hot caramel macchiato that started my day off. Years later, we’re back again, this time with my daughter. It was her first time in Colorado and she loved every moment. This time around, I had to get to know the coffee shop I visited every time I’m in town.

”We’re making coffee for our friends, that’s what it feels like”

Everbean by the Lake is owned by Colorado native Cheryl Pankonien and her husband Alan Pankonien. Originally, she’s from Salida/ Arkansas Valley, about two and a half hours from Evergreen. She attended Greenlee College and got her degree in Nutrition and Food Service. During her second year of college, she started working at Dairy Queen and stayed with the company for 22 years. She started working at the Dairy Queen in Washington when she went to visit her grandma. From there, Cheryl’s life consisted of maintaining her employment and making time for school. In 2009, the economy collapsed, leaving tons of businesses with an ultimatum. The owner of the Dairy Queen where Cheryl was employed owned 13 Dairy Queen stores in total. To save his stores, he laid off all his top paid managers, leaving Cheryl out of the job. It didn’t help that around this time her husband was unemployed as well. A year prior, the opportunity of buy their own Dairy Queen in Montrose, Colorado was presented, but at the time Cheryl and Alan weren’t too interested, and ended up putting it on the back burner. After getting laid off, they contacted the guy to see if the opportunity was still on the table, but the guy never answered

“Everbean kinda fell into our lap”, Cheryl says as the sun shines through the large open window behind me and reflects off of her eyes. At this time, her brother in law owned the entire Lake Pointe Center, where Everbean is. Her husband landed a job on the center as the maintenance guy ( he recently gave up that position). The coffee shop back then was called Cafe Deluca and was originally three doors down from Everbean is now, which is on the end cap of the building. Cafe Deluca was the coffee shop at Lake Pointe before Everbean. It’s was around for ten years and had a very loyal customer base. The owner of Cafe Deluca told Cheryl’s brother in law, John, that she was selling her coffee shop. This was perfect for Cheryl, the only problem was she didn’t know anything about coffee.

Sophia Pallante, an employee at Everbean and local high school student

Jenna Merritt, an employee at Evenbean and local high school student

Ironically, upon signing the contract to take over Cafe Deluca, the guy who owned the Dairy Queen in Montrose called back, 2 days later, to see if they were available to purchase the Dairy Queen. It was far too late as Cheryl and Alan signed the contract to their coffee shop. The former owner didn’t tell anyone that she was selling the shop until they closed the deal. After the closing, she set up a meeting with her employees about the change. The news startled and even made some of the employees upset. Cheryl moved in her father in law to Evergreen and kept the house in Colorado Springs, her husband ended up being the landlord for the house. Two weeks after signing the contract, the flower shop that was on the end cap was available and ready to sell. Her Brother in law convinced Cheryl and her husband to check it out and they eventually made the decision to move to the end cap. Cheryl trusted his judgement, considering he was great at what he does. It was a struggle trying to learn coffee, moving and building up the coffee shop with the new move.

“I can love then and don’t have to pay for diapers or college”

Fortunately, they were able to keep the same employees and some of the same customers from the move. It only lasted a little while until the employees eventually quit. However, the customer base adjusted well to change. During that time, Cheryl wanted to the ditch the “Cafe Deluca” name. She wanted something of her own. There was an abundance of ideas for a name change until one of Cheryl’s customers came up with the name “Everbean”. With the old employees gone, it’s gave an opportunity for local students to apply. She currently has the mixture of students (high school and college), with a couple of adults on her payroll. Since her Dairy Queen days, Cheryl was always able to keep a great staff. Recently, she and Alan took a lengthy vacation in summer to Hawaii (usually, they don’t go on vacation in the summer due to the extra help needed) and when they came back they received nothing but great reviews. While they were absent, the staff took care of everything and handled business very well. Cheryl views her staff as a close knit family, when the kids leave off the college she misses them dearly. She doesn’t have kids on her own so she treats them as if they were her children. Surprisingly, some of her employees ended up coming back during the summer or in between internships to work. She believes maintaining a flexible schedule helps with low turnovers and keep employees in the long run.

Left to right: Cheryl Pankonien, Jenna Merritt and Sophia Pallante

Overall, Everbean By The Lake is one of the best coffee shops I ever stepped foot into. Not only does it cater to the community, it has a wonderful reputation with the local high school as well. With a great atmosphere and staff, Everbean is the perfect place to meet people and see what’s going on the neighborhood. Activities and things to do are posted on the bulletin boards. Cheryl and Alan make a great team, doing most of the maintenance upkeep, taking care of the flowers every year, keeping a strong employee base, etc. When asking about expansion, Cheryl simply replied “I rather have one store and be good at it then open up multiple stores and wear myself thin.” Everbean is here to stay and I can’t wait to visit again.