Brian King, co-owner of Mudhouse Coffee of Springfield, is no amateur when it comes to the coffee business. This coffeehouse and roaster has been around since 1998 — before downtown Springfield was a popular venue for art, entertainment, shopping, and dining.

Now that fall has officially begun, Mudhouse is preparing for the colder weather and the inevitable influx of customers in search of hot beverages. King shared five facts about Mudhouse as he prepared for the fall rush.

1. Inspiration for Mudhouse came from a trip to Asia.

Co-owners King and Rob Weislocher met while attending Missouri State University and had a mutual friend teaching English in Korea. When they decided to visit their friend, they noticed that it was hard to find a street without a coffeehouse.

“We just got used to going every day, several times a day, to a coffee place,” King said.  “We came back to Springfield, and there was just nowhere to go get coffee.”

After visiting numerous international and domestic coffeehouses, the owners wanted to create an inviting atmosphere where anyone can feel comfortable. When they returned to Springfield, they began looking around for locations in the downtown area.

King and Weislocher eventually came across a building being renovated inside that could potentially fit the needs of a coffeehouse.

“The owner [of the building] just happened to be inside. We came inside and chatted with him,” King recalled. “We kind of went from there.”

2. Becoming business owners was not the original plan.

If the trip to Asia had not occurred, Mudhouse Coffee would probably not exist.  King had just graduated from MSU in 1997 and was planning to attend grad school while Weislocher, who had graduated a few years earlier, was looking to find a career with his degree in psychology.

“We kind of just said, ‘Well, let’s try it out and see what happens,’ ” King said.

Once their business dream was formed, the owners wanted to create a company that stood out in the minds of consumers.

“We’re unique because we’re not just strictly coffee. … We kind of started out that way,” King said, “but we’ve grown and kind of morphed into something much more than that.”

In addition to different coffee drinks, Mudhouse has advanced its menu by adding smoothies, baked goods, and lunch/dinner options.

3. The menu is constantly changing.

To adapt to customer preferences, Mudhouse is always changing its menu. “We’re constantly tweaking stuff, constantly adding to the menu,” King said.

As fall approaches, many specialty drinks are made available to customers with several  being pumpkin-flavored. Smoothies are also menu items that get switched out for new flavors when the season changes.

“We’re always listening to what people want or don’t want,” King said. “So we’re constantly changing stuff all the time — almost daily.”

4. The business’s philosophy is ‘the love of freshness.’

Mudhouse has been roasting its own coffee since the first year it opened for business.  At first, the roaster was in the front of the shop, but business grew so rapidly that it was moved to the back garage area connected to the store, King said.  The roaster quickly outgrew its new location, and a bigger roaster is now located across the street from Mudhouse.

“We roast just about every day …, so it’s going to be as fresh as you can possibly get it,” King said.

In addition to freshly roasted coffee, the smoothies are made with real fruit and pastries are baked every day.

Mudhouse also supports organic coffee growth methods. “That’s the trend right now: fresh coffee and people starting to roast,” King said.

5. King frequently makes ceramics for the shop.

Because running a business can make his schedule extremely busy at times, King has incorporated one of his hobbies into his job.

Since first opening Mudhouse, King has made hundreds of ceramic mugs, bowls, and saucers for the coffeehouse. In the back garage area of the building, a ceramic station is set up for King to use.

“Around Christmas time, I’ll usually have about 100 mugs out there,” King said. “So I’ll start upping my mug inventory right now.”

His hobby has to be put on hold during parts of summer and winter because of the lack of air conditioning and heating in his studio. With a laugh, King admits that it can be frustrating at times if Mudhouse gets busy and he comes back to some of his pieces dried out. But he does what he can.

“I’m not really like a production potter per se,” King said. “What I do make I’m really picky about.  If it’s not something I deem almost perfect or really good, I’m not going to put it out there.”

These ceramics are always available for sale and tend to sell quickly closer to Christmas.