PHOTOS COURTESY OF THE COFFIN BEAN & CO.

After working the 9-to-5 grind for decades, Jen Mullins was at a dead end. To raise her spirits, the Apollo resident launched her own to-die-for business. 

The Coffin Bean & Co. is a hearse-powered coffee trailer that specializes in macabre lattes, cold brew, tea and other bewitched beverages. She partnered with local roasters Commonplace Coffee and Eeek! Creature Coffee to sell branded bags of whole beans in Bell Ringer and Ressurectionist blends.

The former Starbucks barista makes seasonal selections such as Crystal Lake Campfire, a Friday the 13th-inspired mix of espresso, milk, dark chocolate and toasted marshmallow whipped cream with graham cracker crumbles. 

You could say she’s buried in her work.

Mullins and her husband Mark Tarle were married on Oct. 31, 2020 under a full, blue moon. The funeral coach enthusiasts own two coffin-haulin’ Cadillacs dubbed Phantasm and Lady Hearse and a Chevrolet Caprice Eagle Coach Conversion called The Spooky Mobile. (OK, technically Spooky is a coroner’s wagon designed to transport the recently deceased to the morgue, but fellow motorists kindly move out of the way when they see it creeping up behind them.)

All three vehicles in the frightening fleet are equipped to pull the vintage Scotty trailer that Mark, a metal worker who restores recreational vehicles, Frankensteined into a rolling coffee shop, complete with coffin-shaped reflectors.

Don’t let the morose modes of transportation fool you, Mullins is as cheerful as can be. It was all laughs and smiles during our interview when we discovered we grew up in the same Cranberry neighborhood! We’re just two suburban gals who were raised on horror movies and Halloween hijinx. And, for the record, Fox Run was the best place to go trick-or-treating in the ‘80s. 

THE GRAVER KIDS WERE KILLING IT ON HALLOWEEN NIGHT, 1987. PHOTO COURTESY OF KRISTY GRAVER

The Coffin Bean & Co.’s inaugural outing was in September during the annual Hearsemania car show in Weston, W.Va. 

Customers (Mullins lovingly refers to as “caffiends”) really seemed to dig the concept. They lined up around the Trans-Atlantic Lunatic Asylum to pay a few bucks (and their respects) to the new enterprise.

Plan a visitation soon. The hearses run year-round and will make frequent stops at ghoulish events such as Brownsville Screams on Oct. 21 in Brownsville, Pa., the vegan-friendly Sweet Horror on Oct. 22 at Voodoo Brewing Co. in New Kensington and next summer’s Beaver County Heathen Festival. 

Her future looks grim and she wouldn’t have it any other way. 

Mullins hopes to team up with a local bakery so she can offer creepy treats to go with the drinks. She also plans to donate to a local non-profit each month and provide free drip coffee to mental health care workers. Eventually, she’d like to open a brick-and-mortar storefront in Apollo.

For now, she’s just enjoying the ride.