Muni's Coffee Joint opens in Lindenhurst
The interior of Muni's Coffee Joint, a new tea and coffee purveyor in Lindenhurst. Credit: Newsday/Scott Vogel
Muni’s Coffee Joint in Lindenhurst was barely a week old and already there was a steady stream of caffeine seekers on a recent blustery afternoon.
“Who did the photographs?” asked a customer who had come in for a latte. Alice Bopp told her that they were hers. “Let me look at them to see if I approve,” said the woman said with a wink, inspecting with interest several framed pictures hung on the North Wellwood Avenue shop's walls.
“I used to work in photography back in San Diego,” Bopp told us later by phone, while simultaneously steaming milk for a coffee drink. Originally from Rio de Janeiro, she came to the United States in 2002, fell in love, and eventually, a few years back, moved east to Lindenhurst, where her husband’s family is from. The photos are souvenirs of Bopp’s travels, she said, landscape portraits of Spain and California, Paris and Brazil. “It brings a little bit of me into the place.”
For a small shop, which opened March 27, Muni’s offers a wide selection of teas and coffees, the latter from Long Island’s own East End Roasters. “We have all kinds of brews, from flavored to regular espresso drinks, as well as specialty lattes, cold brews and — eventually — smoothies and pressed juices.” There are plans to offer pastries and sandwiches.
Muni, if you are wondering, is her son Benjamin’s nickname. “He is the boss,” Bopp laughed. “After I had a kid at 39, I was a mom for a while, but now that I’m 45 I want to reinvent myself.” Business has been brisk, she said. “The community is really happy and embracing us. When I moved here from San Diego in 2011 it was like a ghost town. Now Lindenhurst is becoming a place to walk around and enjoy, just like Babylon and other places. I’m glad to be here opening a business.”
Furthermore, she said, laughing, “it increases everybody’s house values.”
Muni’s Coffee Joint is at 222 N. Wellwood Ave. in Lindenhurst; 631-412-5085; open from 6 a.m. to 4 p.m., Monday through Friday, and from 8 a.m. to 4 p.m. on Saturday and Sunday. munis-coffee-joint.business.site
