Mule Ear: Mobile coffee shop coming to Kingston Springs

Nov. 8 UPDATE: After posting this article, Mule Ear owners, Bryce and Rebecca Witt, have decided NOT to open the mobile coffee shop in Kingston Springs at this time. No further explanation or statement was given to the Gazette.

Kingston Springs residents will now have another option when they go to get their daily dose of caffeine. 

Mule Ear – a mobile cafe serving up organic espresso drinks and house-made sourdough pastries – will be parked outside of Origin Family Chiropractic on West Kingston Springs Road beginning Saturday, Nov. 9. 

Bryce and Rebecca Witt moved to Cheatham County from Las Vegas, Nevada, after giving birth to their second child in the fall of 2023. The 31-year-old couple has never owned a storefront business before, and doesn’t even have a background in coffee. But their extensive experience in digital marketing has equipped the Witt’s to know what coffee people like. 

“We started our own marketing business, and a lot of the companies that we worked for were coffee companies,” Bryce said. “We knew enough about the type of people that like coffee.” 

Bryce said it had been the couple’s dream to start a coffee business since they started dating in 2018. He said they almost started one out west after they got married in 2020, but then got pregnant with their son Jace. 

The name “Mule Ear” pays homage to the couple’s western roots, referencing how cowboys put on their boots and they pull them up by their mule ears – the little loops on boots that you pull up.

After they had settled into Ashland City for a few months, Bryce said he and Rebecca “were just on [Facebook] Marketplace one day and we saw this trailer pop up … we prayed about it that night and we woke up and felt like that’s the direction.” 

The couple bought the trailer – which was previously used as a mobile salad shop – in July with hopes of initially opening Mule Ear in August. The couple ended up having to do more renovations than they originally planned. 

“It didn't really fit what we needed at all,” Bryce said. “But it was so unique. We knew that if we got a trailer we didn't want the basic trailer that you would see anywhere – we wanted something very unique. And that was what drew us to this one.” 

He explained that they had to build new sections of the trailer to fit equipment meant for a coffee shop and not a salad bar – like an espresso machine. 

“It was a process. It was way more difficult than I thought,” Bryce said. “It took us a lot longer than we had hoped. We thought that we were going to get it and within three weeks, we'd be up and running. And we got it and the second we got it to our house, I started tearing everything out of it.” 

Organic ingredients and supplies are a big part of Mule Ear’s mission – even down to the paint used to renovate the trailer. 

“Because we want everything to be so organic, it was even a process of finding stain and sealant that was as clean as we could possibly find,” Bryce said. “We just figured if you're gonna be organic, you need to go 100%. You can't have anything that's off.” 

Bryce has struggled with health issues in his adult life, until he started eating organic. 

“I've had a lot of pretty bad reactions to food,” he explained. “We thought I had celiac. I was extremely lactose intolerant.” Rebecca’s business – Sourdough Mama – grew out of Bryce’s inability to eat store-bought bread. 

“I have a lot of fairly severe food restrictions – or so we thought – and so I got Rebecca a sourdough starter and a kit,” he said. “And she fell in love with it really quickly.” Rebecca now sells her sourdough and other baked goods to coffee shops – including The Bluffalo in White Bluff – in and around Nashville. 

Bryce said the couple started only drinking raw milk, eating sourdough and cut out refined sugars. “We've never had any health problems – since we've started doing this, it's completely gone away,” he said. 

“Even if people don't care about it, if you just want coffee, we want to make sure that you are going to feel great after drinking this,” he said. “We're going to have to sacrifice our margins a little bit. But if we're not willing to drink it, then why are we going to put it out there? We've prayed about it and everything, and I really think that we're making the right decision on it.” 

Bryce and Rebecca Witt have had two trial runs of their new business, Mule Ear, this month, learning valuable lessons ahead of their official launch in Kingston Springs on Nov. 9. / Cate Burgan

Mule Ear will offer house-made syrups for their lattes and all of their espresso beans are bought from American companies. Their classic latte starts at $5 and their seasonal lattes go up to $6.75. Syrups include vanilla, chocolate, caramel and maple. The signature latte – The Mule Ear – is espresso, milk, butter and maple syrup. 

The menu’s sourdough items currently include Rebecca’s chocolate chip cookie, scones, cinnamon buns and croissants with a couple seasonal pastries as well. Eventually, Mule Ear wants to offer a pastry case that will hold Sourdough Mama loaves and other baked goods.

“[We’re going to] really treat this like a cafe, [and] really start making people know that you don't just come here for coffee – you can come here and just get your bread for the week or anything like that,” Bryce said.

Bryce boasted that Mule Ear will have a “secret menu” that locals can access to unlock specialty drinks. He emphasized that the bakery will be small-batch because baking sourdough from scratch is labor intensive, but also because they want it to feel “exclusive.” 

Mule Ear will be parked in front of Origin Family Chiropractic Monday through Saturday from 6 a.m. to noon or until sold out. They’re hosting a soft launch on Saturday, Nov. 9 and their grand opening will be held on Monday, Nov. 11. 

During their soft launch, Origin and Mule Ear are partnering on a giveaway of the chiropractic clinic’s offerings. 

“One of the reasons that we think that it'll go well with Origin is because their values are so similar to ours,” Bryce explained. “They're a Christian company, and they're very holistic. So we think that we'll compliment each other pretty well.”