Gypsy Java gives more than a cup of coffee

From the class that didn’t matter or the part-time job in college, Gabrielle Dickman, believes that it all matters to who you are and where you go.

“OK, I’ve been a nurse for a while, it’s a lot of fun, I’ve learned a lot, and I think I want to try something else now,” Dickman, owner of Gypsy Java Coffee Shop, said. “I’ve always enjoyed making coffee so it kind of just fell into place.”

Dickman never expected to live her life with only one job.

Dickman, a former nurse, started Gypsy Java, a coffee stand on Highway 95 heading south to Lewiston, when she felt it was time to make a career change.

While she expected to own a coffee shop one day, she didn’t expect that day to come so early.

After moving to Moscow to be closer to family, Dickman noticed a lack of the kind of coffee she had grown accustomed to in Phoenix, Arizona.

“That was basically how it started, just me wanting coffee that I could drink and having the desire to do it,” Dickman said.

Gypsy Java opened in 2015, with a goal to offer more organic and local coffee to the Palouse, using roast from Landgrove Coffee in Troy.

The longer coffee sits out the more likely it is to lose freshness, Dickman said. Because of this, they take advantage of Landgrove, which is less than 20 miles away.

While Dickman’s goal with Gypsy Java is to have organic and locally roasted coffee, her favorite part is the people — though coffee is a close second.

She enjoys getting to know many different members of the community — community and support has been an important piece for Dickman.

“Whenever you decide to run your own business, you have to be every person,” Dickman said. “And I would say it’s hard to let go and allow other people to do things.”

Once she learned the ins-n-outs of her business, Dickman said she learned she couldn’t do everything and she wasn’t good at everything — but nobody is.

Dickman’s husband is one of the people who helps her, doing Quickbooks, an accounting software, for the business. While Dickman is capable of doing Quickbooks, her husband is the expert.

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Adriana Lange, a UI fourth-year student and barista at Gypsy Java, is another person who has been able to help Dickman, especially when it comes to social media.

Lange runs the Instagram for Gypsy Java.

Dickman, being from an older generation, is more of a people person, but has Lange to show her tools like Instagram to connect with the younger generation.

Though Dickman, a psychology and sociology major, still wants to work in her own field she knows that maybe one day things will change — and she has always wanted to own her own business.

“We are helping people get to work to be happy, like how you start your day is a real thing,” Dickman said.

Alex Brizee can be reached at [email protected].