Desiree White may have a better security system for her business than money can buy.
After her Coffee Cabin trailer was stolen in May, with help from friends and neighbors in the neighborhoods along FM 1484 northeast of Conroe, she rebuilt and reopened Aug. 12 in the same location at FM 1484 and Rollingwood Loop.
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Now, any time something looks amiss around the cabin, her loyal customers are quick to investigate to protect the little cabin where patrons can get a side of community togetherness along with their daily cup of joe.
“I’m back to living my dream,” White said. “I have done many things in my life from joining the military at 17 years old, to sales and management to selling mattresses. I will always come back to coffee. It’s not the coffee that makes me happy, it’s getting to know so many wonderful people in my little community.”
White, who grew up in Washington state, was a barista in her first job at age 16. She finished high school early and joined the Washington State Army National Guard, but never gave up the dream of opening a coffee business.
The Coffee Cabin opened in January 2022 in a 16-foot brown and white trailer not far from her own neighborhood.
Not only did the little coffee trailer become a connection to her community for White, it was a gathering spot for those who live along FM 1484 a bit removed from the city streets of Conroe.
“Every friend that I have out here I’ve met through the Coffee Cabin,” White said. “I am literally serving my neighbors and my community and I couldn’t let that go.”
On the morning of May 20, her coffee dreams were almost dashed when her whole trailer was stolen from its regular spot.
“That day was soul crushing but as much as it hurt I wasn’t going to let them steal the Cabin and my dream,” she said.
The Montgomery County Sheriff’s Office investigated the theft, but she said nothing was found of the original trailer. Eventually the case was closed so she could start over.
She purchased a flatbed trailer on Facebook marketplace and the community went to work. She and her husband, Kody, headed up the project and customers pitched in to donate supplies and help build and paint the new cabin which has a small seating area — an upgrade from the first cabin.
“People who have never been here before ask ‘Who built this?’ and I tell them ‘We did,'” she said.
She also has a little market place in the cabin where she sells her own baked goods, hatching eggs, products from Piney Point Farm and Apiary and plants from her friend’s business Greenhouse Co.
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Richard Biggs and his fiancee were two of the customers who pitched in to help White rebuild. He lives in the area and stops by when coming and going from work. Her 5-year-old son calls him the “blue shirt guy” for his blue work shirt.
White often makes suggestions for his coffee picks and he’s currently working his way through the new coffee menu launched when the cabin reopened.
“She knows what I like more than I do,” he said. He admires her enthusiasm to keep going through the adversity she faced this year.
Carolina Umana said she was heartbroken to learn the Coffee Cabin had been stolen in May.
Umana lives in California but visits her daughter who lives along FM 1484.
“I fell in love with her attention to detail. (When the cabin was stolen) my heart went out to her because she does her magic out of this cabin. It angered me that people would hurt the community that way,” Umana said.
In addition to several added security measgures, White believes karma is on her side for the people who stole the first cabin.
“I could be mad about it all I want or wish them harm, but in reality what’s coming to them is coming to them,” she said.
