Latest / Coffee People Podcast / Owner of The Yellow Mug Valley Mobley joins Coffee People at CoffeeFest NYC 2026

Transcript

Owner of The Yellow Mug Valley Mobley joins Coffee People at CoffeeFest NYC 2026 · Coffee People Podcast

• 0:00
  Now that we do video, I have to see myself all the time.
• 0:03
  Exactly. It's a little painful, right?
• 0:05
  But I this little camera I just got and it's exciting because I
• 0:08
  could see that it's actually working.
• 0:10
  That's true, and it's it's small enough you don't have to think
• 0:12
  about the fact that you're looking at yourself.
• 0:14
  No, like I used to have to press a button and then walk around
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  and then I never really knew. You never know.
• 0:21
  Welcome to coffee people. Well, thank you.
• 0:23
  It's it's great to be here. Who are you?
• 0:24
  Who? Am I?
• 0:25
  I am valley mopley. I am from Crozet, VA.
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  OK, I have a. Little coffee shop there called
• 0:31
  The Yellow Mug. I'm going to start all over.
• 0:59
  Let's do it. Who are?
• 1:01
  You welcome. To the show.
• 1:03
  Thank you. I am Valley Mobley and I am from
• 1:06
  Crozet, VA. We have a little coffee shop
• 1:09
  there called The Yellow Mug and we have been up and going for
• 1:13
  just over three years now. Cool.
• 1:15
  So. So you came up for Coffee Fest?
• 1:18
  That's right. What are you hoping to learn
• 1:21
  here, or do here or? I think every time I come to
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  Coffee Fest, the the thing I take away the most is like the
• 1:30
  the customer service tips where our whole thing is coffee and
• 1:34
  kindness and building community through creating a safe space
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  to, to build friendships or reconnect with people that we
• 1:43
  haven't seen in a while. Yeah, just just a 1/3 space in
• 1:48
  the Crozet community. How did you get into it in the
• 1:51
  first place? What made you wanted not just
• 1:53
  working coffee, but own your own coffee shop or.
• 1:55
  Run a coffee shop. It was one of those things.
• 1:59
  The the the first time the seed planted in my mind was like when
• 2:03
  I was 17. I grew up in North Carolina in a
• 2:06
  little tiny town called Richlands, OK.
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  And there was no coffee scene there whatsoever.
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  And but this tiny little shop opened called the Luna Cafe.
• 2:17
  And me and my cousin would go there in the evenings and just
• 2:20
  like edge out. It was, it was the coolest
• 2:23
  thing. And I remember thinking, I love
• 2:26
  this because I felt like the people wanted us there, even
• 2:30
  though we were just like teenagers bombing around.
• 2:33
  They wanted us there. And they created a really cool
• 2:35
  atmosphere of just like you can be here as long as you want and
• 2:39
  we want you. I wonder about that exact thing
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  now that I'm an adult. I remember sitting at the diner
• 2:46
  and getting like a hot chocolate and being there for like 7
• 2:49
  hours. Exactly and.
• 2:50
  Being like they must have like, not like that.
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  I don't know. I know like, because most
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  places, most places are really impatient about young people.
• 3:00
  It feels like it's like they're a bother or they're in the way
• 3:04
  or this is not for you. But I just felt so at home there
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  and it was really cool. That's awesome.
• 3:12
  So I that that's when the seed first entered my mind and then
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  it was kind of one of those dreams that came and went, but
• 3:21
  here we are. There had to be a moment,
• 3:23
  though, where you thought, OK, this is something I've thought
• 3:25
  about, but I'm actually going to do it.
• 3:27
  Do you know, was there a tipping point?
• 3:29
  Yeah. So when I moved up to Virginia,
• 3:33
  it was at the end of 2020. Wild time to move anywhere with
• 3:37
  like COVID stuff and but I. Haven't heard of it explained.
• 3:41
  Right, exactly. You know, it's just nationwide
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  thing catastrophe I'll. Look into it.
• 3:46
  Yeah, you should look into that. And then I started working at a
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  little cafe that was more like a lunch and breakfast place just
• 3:58
  to learn the community and really not expecting that
• 4:03
  particular little community of Crozet to be my target audience.
• 4:09
  But after being there for about a year and a half, the lady that
• 4:13
  owns that shop was kind of over it.
• 4:17
  I think code was kind of the tipping point for.
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  Tipping point for a lot of people.
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  Yeah, which is unfortunate, but she through our relationship,
• 4:26
  the opportunity opened up to lease her space.
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  And it was kind of in that conversation that I was just
• 4:34
  like, you know what, this is, this is where I'm supposed to
• 4:36
  be, even if it's not where I expected to be, this is where
• 4:40
  I'm supposed to be. And so, yeah, here we are.
• 4:44
  And it's it's been a a wild ride, but a good one.
• 4:48
  I commend you for recognizing that because it's something to
• 4:52
  say, OK, there was a sign or there was a thing, but like to
• 4:56
  take that initiative to say no, this is actually something that
• 5:00
  I'm supposed to be doing is a challenge for people and and so
• 5:05
  I am always impressed when someone jumps on.
• 5:07
  That. Yeah, I always waffle.
• 5:09
  Yeah, yeah. It's, it's a thing of like, I
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  don't know. I think for me, I'm really
• 5:18
  passionate about people and there's, well, I mean, you know,
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  I don't have to tell you the amount of opportunity there is
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  for that in this industry is, is is wild.
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  And it was, it felt like a step off of a Cliff, honestly, for me
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  too, because my personality in the past is it's a little more
• 5:41
  shy and reserved, but I knew that you.
• 5:45
  Say that having walked over and jumped onto a podcast, I'm live,
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  you know, on a. Camera.
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  I'm very shy and you're just like immediately spouting wisdom
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  and advice. I've grown a lot, OK, the coffee
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  shop has has. Forced an audio has.
• 6:00
  Built some muscle for me, I'm glad.
• 6:04
  I'm glad, yes. When you're out in the world,
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  you get away from the coffee shop for an event like this and
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  you have the opportunity to order a coffee just for
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  yourself. Yes.
• 6:13
  What do you order? I love a cortado OK cortado.
• 6:18
  It gives me a really good idea of what the places espresso is
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  like and the what should I say what their frothing game is
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  like. Frothing game that feels like it
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  should be a real fan. Right.
• 6:34
  It's almost sounds like a horror movie.
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  The froth, the. Froth thing game.
• 6:38
  Oh, I love it. Yeah.
• 6:41
  Well, tell us again the name of your place.
• 6:43
  How can people find you if they want to follow they're?
• 6:45
  Sorry, absolutely. So my name's Valley Mobley and
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  my coffee shop is the Yellow Mug, and we're on Instagram as
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  Yellow Mug Coffee, so follow us there and thanks for having me.
• 6:58
  Thanks for being. It's so fun, amazing.
• 7:01
  That's it. Thank you, it was so fun to meet
• 7:03
  you. Oh, it's so a pleasure.
• 7:05
  Absolute pleasure. Yeah.
• 8:01
  Hey everyone, thank you for checking out Coffee People
• 8:03
  today. We hope to see you at our Coffee
• 8:05
  Smarter Live podcast featuring some great Coffee Smarter
• 8:08
  experts over the years. That's going to be Thursday
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  night, April 9th at 6:00 PM at Coffee Cycle Roasting in Ocean
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  Beach. It's kind of a thank you to the
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  Socal coffee industry who helped us get our start.
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  We appreciate you and hope to see you there.
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  And if not there, then let's share a cup of coffee at the
• 8:24
  World of Coffee Expo.