PHOTO BY KRISTY GRAVER

Lemon Tree Pittsburgh is a coffee company that gives away coffee.

During Millvale’s inaugural Pride event in June 2021, the owners — three friends from Lewistown, Pa. — passed out Lemon Tree stickers and bottles of cold brew to everyone they met.

And they met a lot of people.

Even after they started operating a for-profit coffee shop out of Harold’s Haunt on Grant Street, they kept Millvale Community Library’s free fridge caffeinated and delivered complimentary cold brew and lemonade, as well as gift cards and stickers, to other charitable spots throughout Pittsburgh.

“We made a coffee shop so we can make friends,” says Bobby Smith, who, along with his wife, Sam McCoy Smith, and pal, Jason Hosterman, runs the business that is built on kindness.

And business is booming. I see those stickers everywhere!

On Nov. 30, Small Business Saturday, Lemon Tree will open at the borough’s former Moose Lodge. Now known as the Millvale Food + Energy Hub, the 10,000-square-foot Sherman Street facility features a solar microgrid and new energy technology that support building operations.

It’s another shared space — and that’s cool with the buds at Lemon Tree. Other tenants include New Sun Rising, 412 Food Rescue, The Food Trust and FracTracker Alliance. Sprezzatura Cafe, which opened in the building in 2019, now operates out of the Pittsburgh Theological Seminary in East Liberty.

“We work well with others,” McCoy Smith says, adding that they’ll continue to partner with New Kensington-based Steel Cup Coffee Roasters, another big-hearted business that donated all of the beans Lemon Tree used to fuel that Pride party.

Lemon Tree will host several pop-ups this month to give people a taste of their expanded menu, that, in addition to hot and cold beverages, includes build-your-own-breakfast sandwiches, hearty breakfast plates, bagels, hand pies, waffles, breads and pastries, including gluten-free options from Wild Rise Bakery.

McCoy Smith’s Pennsylvania Dutch grandmothers taught her how to bake, so, now that she herself is a teacher at the Union Project and has a big ol’ oven to play with, expect a lot of housemade treats to appear on the menu.

The cupcake I had during our interview was almost as sweet as watching Smith rock his baby, Otto, who was born 10 weeks ago, right around the time Lemon Tree’s lease was ending at Harold’s Haunt. The Shaler couple have full-time jobs and another young son named Seamus. They’re used to multitasking.

Hosterman, of Crafton Heights, went to school for engineering and environmental studies and has kitchen experience. He plans to help with the onsite garden and hopes Lemon Tree can capture the cool, laid-back and friendly vibe of a Gen X-era coffee house, complete with live music.

Lemon Tree, a reference to the “Lemon of Troy” episode of “The Simpsons,” started as a record label that helped local bands make tapes and book shows.

Harmony has always been part of their business plan.

“It’s all rooted in friendship and community,” Smith says. “That’s absolutely what makes this work at all. People come to us specifically because they like us as people. We just happen to have really good coffee.”