New Milton coffee shop pays tribute to slain 19-year-old PCC student

Milton’s new coffee shop, Covington Mercantile & Coffee Co., is now ready to get the city of Milton loaded up on caffeine and community following its grand-opening and ribbon cutting Thursday.

The owners and shop’s namesake, Sid and Flax Covington, have been dreaming up the shop through decades of cross-country road trips with their children and taste testing coffee shops along the way.

Sid Covington served with the Bernalillo County Sheriff’s Office in Albuquerque, New Mexico, for 25 years as a full-time career, but coffee shops were his family's tradition. At each stop, the family brainstormed ways they would set up their coffee shop if they ever started one of their own.

The menu’s Covington Usual, made with four shots of espresso poured over ice, topped with half-and-half and three Splenda, became their fine-tuned favorite across each stop.

Coffee shop pays tribute to slain 19-year-old PCC student

When their daughter, Erinn Covington, now 25, made the decision to attend Pensacola Christian College, the family packed up and came along with her and planted roots in Pensacola, where they plugged into West Florida Baptist Church.

It was in Pensacola that they met 19-year-old Jadon Goins, a student at Pensacola Christian College, who began attending a young adult group led by the Covingtons. Goins’ parents were missionaries in Honduras and Jadon Goins was following in his parents' footsteps preparing for a life of Gospel ministry.

The Covington family became parents away from home when Goins needed them, and Flax ensured he always had a hug and his favorite drink, caramel iced coffee, ready during group sessions.

When Goins was struck and killed by a suspected drunk driver while working on school grounds earlier this year, the family was reminded of how fleeting time is and the importance of not waiting to put dreams into action.

Jadon Goins remembered: Fallen PCC student remembered for 'immense love for Jesus,' passion for serving others

“We were driving one day, and he (Sid) just asked her (Flax) you know, ‘All right, where do you want to open your store?’" Erinn Covington said. “And I didn't know if they were serious at first, because we dream about stuff all the time … We had a young man in our church pass away. And I think that kind of woke all of us up a little bit, like, we're not promised tomorrow. So why are we waiting on our dreams? Let's go for it. So, I think that kind of inspired this place.”

Now, Goins is honored in the shop with a printed-out frame with his story titled “GOINSTRONG” and a drink on the menu to go with it. The GoinStrong, an iced coffee with half and half, caramel syrup and a caramel drizzle, was a small way for the Covingtons to pay tribute to his life.

“Jadon loved the caramel coffee. So, I would always try to have that for him because his parents aren't here, so we tried to give a little extra to make him feel welcomed and loved. So, it hit us very close to home when that happened, because we knew him and our sons were friends,” Flax Covington said.

There is also a drink on the menu modeled after his life Bible verse, the Jeremiah 33:3, made with three shots of espresso, three flavors of syrup (caramel, chocolate and white chocolate), and three dairies, using half and half and whipped cream.

“I thought we'd honor him and honor his family by making a drink after that. It was intentional that we honor them,” Sid Covington said. “And they’re missionaries, his family are missionaries of Honduras, and they've sacrificed their life and want to go to another country to serve other people … they have a great testimony of how the man that ran over Jadon and killed him, he (the driver) was drunk and was arrested, the (Goins) family just showed such love and compassion for him, forgiving him for what he did and try to point him towards a solution in his life, which is Jesus. Trying to be a light for him even after what he did to take away their son.”

Since the soft opening of the business in mid-June, the Jeremiah 33:3 drink has undoubtedly become their best-seller, and the Covingtons don’t believe that’s a coincidence.

“There is definitely power in God's word, and that's probably why this drink has just blown up the way it has is because it's named after God's words,” Erinn Covington said.

What all is on Covington Mercantile & Coffee Co. menu?

The other specialty drinks share special value to the Covington family, like the Missing Peace, a hot chocolate-based beverage missing the caffeine, which is a tribute to an organization in Laurel, Mississippi, that provides shelter and healing to victims of human trafficking. Sid Covington built handcrafted furniture to help furnish the organization’s safe house.

Even the cup sizes have special meaning, trading in tall and grande for sizes “Big Ish” and “Little Ish,” as a tribute to Sid Covington’s grandfather, Ishmael Leon Covington, who was a tall U.S. Merchant Marine during World War II nicknamed “Big Ish.” When Sid Covington was born and given on the middle name Ishmael, he took on the nickname “Little Ish.”

Aside from the house specialties, the shop offers all the coffee shop classics of drip coffee, espresso, mochas and lattes, Americanos and cappuccinos made from Pensacola coffee roaster beans, De Luna Coffee International.

There also options for non-coffee drinkers, including plant-based energy drinks, smoothies and teas.

The Covingtons also bake their pastries in-house, including cookies, coffee cake, orange cranberry Bundt cakes and cake pops.

The family will soon be bringing a taste of their New Mexico roots to the menu with a house-made breakfast burrito topped with green chili queso.

When the Covingtons decided to finally take the leap to start the café, they said they felt as though every detail had been perfectly orchestrated and they didn’t even have trouble finding staff to work.

“We didn't ever advertise that we needed employees. Like that never happened. So, my daughter (Erinn) teaches high school art. So probably five of the girls that work here are from her high school class, and they're off for the summer,” Flax Covington said. “People ask all the time, ‘Are you hiring?” We're still small, so we don't have a lot of openings, but we have a list.”

Milton favorite ice cream shop returns: What's that new ice cream shop in Milton? We have the scoop

After you load up on coffee, the mercantile allows you to grab local goods

The shop doubles as half café, half mercantile, where they sell goods from local vendors, several of which are Palafox Market regulars. These goods include earrings, pottery, candles, soaps, and boutique and resale clothing sections.

“My daughter and I are working on putting together a closet that is gently used clothes for resale just to have a place where people can come and get some really nice outfits for very inexpensive,” Flax Covington said. “We wanted something you just can’t find anywhere.”

She also plans to use the back portion of the shop to host events, such as painting nights.

“We want to be an anchor point in the community. We just want people to be able to people to come here and just enjoy themselves, come read a book, come hang out with friends, come have a cup of coffee,” Sid Covington said.

The Covington Mercantile is open from 10 a.m. to 5 p.m. on Monday through Saturday, and Covington Coffee Co. is open from 6:30 a.m. to 5:30 p.m. Both stores are closed on Sunday.

This article originally appeared on Pensacola News Journal: Covington Mercantile & Coffee Co. in Pea Ridge now open