Teleo Coffee will open in Kirkwood in mid-August

Teleo Coffee will open this month at 132 W. Monroe Ave. in Kirkwood, serving up coffee and food with a mission to “love our neighbors one cup at a time.”

Founder and part-owner Olivia Oglesby created the business plan for Teleo Coffee while studying entrepreneurship at Saint Louis University. After graduating in 2019, she decided to pursue her dream of opening a coffee shop. “I knew that I loved coffee shops — the atmosphere, what it means to people, how it’s a really unique space where people come to have this fellowship and community. I wanted to create that space to help people feel known, loved and cared for,” Oglesby said.

Although the shop itself isn’t open yet, Teleo has been making a name for itself at farmers markets like the Kirkwood Farmers' Market and outdoor pop-ups. Their current menu offers cold brew, drip coffee, tea, homemade lemonade and espresso drinks, including a lavender vanilla latte, a maple brown sugar latte and the best-selling “Honey Bear Latte.” Blended beverages like fraps and smoothies will be added to the menu when the brick-and-mortar shop officially opens. The food menu consists of pastries from Bridge Bread, breakfast sandwiches and smoothie bowls for breakfast as well as paninis and quinoa bowls for lunch.

Drinks are made with locally-sourced ingredients like beans from Switch Coffee Collective on North Grand Avenue, a roastery that works with Mission: St. Louis to connect men in under-resourced communities with jobs. Milk will come from Rolling Lawns Farm, an Illinois-based farm, and honey from a local beekeeper in Chesterfield. “Our mission is to love our neighbors, and we do it through the products we bring in, having them go back to the community. We were very intentional in picking the products,” Oglesby said. Additionally, 10% of the profits from Teleo’s chocolate sea salt mocha called the “Love Your Neighbor” will go to a local nonprofit organization that will be switched out quarterly.

Teleo is located in a two-story house with 22 outdoor seats on the front deck and roughly 35 more inside. The upstairs will have a dedicated space for kids and their parents with chalkboard walls, coloring pages and couches for parents to lounge on.

The grand opening will take place on Aug. 15 with 28 different vendors including food trucks, bath products products, clothing items, beauty products, fitness products, pastries and more. Free t-shirts for the first 50 people, live music, outdoor games and limited-edition drinks will also be part of the festivities.

“So much of my heart is community and fellowship, and being able to start my business off by also supporting these other small businesses is really cool. It just feels like a big family,” Oglesby said.