Steaming Eagle offers convenient and fun way to get morning coffee

Iced coffee from the Steaming Eagle to begin the day at school - Courtesy of Zainab Azeem

Iced coffee from the Steaming Eagle to begin the day at school – Courtesy of Zainab Azeem

Zainab Azeem, Features Editor

Welcome to the Steaming Eagle, a small coffee shop near the main entrance of Carl Sandburg High School that will warm your hearts and your stomachs no matter the weather. The Steaming Eagle provides a coffee delivery service to teachers and serves different types of drinks to students. 

“The whole program started with the previous instructor. Ms. Tyson, who was with another group of teachers, had it running before COVID, and then because of COVID, they had to shut down. They opened during COVID years as just a delivery service for teachers,” said Ms. Jelcic, one of the teachers who helps run the shop. “Now that it’s opened back up, we provide a delivery service for teachers and also provide daily coffee.” 

The students working at the shop are quite involved in the daily operations. They “make coffee for students and make coffee for teachers. They’re involved in the setup and take down of the cart. They also walk around and deliver coffee for teachers. A lot more than just delivering and making coffee goes into this shop. They have to do inventory, so we check on inventory, we have to do ordering. They’re basically involved in every aspect of the coffee shop. The goal is that they are able to hone their vocational skills and utilize those for a real world setting.” 

So, what’s on the menu? What’s recommended? 

“Our menu kind of fluctuates depending on the weather. If it’s really cold, usually hot chocolate is a really good seller, but now that it’s warming up a little bit, ice coffee or iced mocha coffee is probably our most popular drink.”

Recently, the Steaming Eagle has had an exciting change to what they provide, serving students something very familiar.

“One of our biggest things to highlight is that this was the first year we ever had Starbucks coffee. This year we partnered with a Starbucks distributor, selling tea additionally. So, that was really exciting this year.”

But besides selling Starbucks and letting students work on real life skills, how does a drink you may chug down in the morning connect students to this shop, and how does this shop make an impact?

“This is a great way for students to come together, and everyone likes coffee, so it’s a great way for everyone to work together and be an integrative community. We get to show off our students a little bit and their coffee shop skills. I’m just really proud of them to see the progression from where we started to where we are now. It is pretty amazing. Every morning we have multiple students and all kinds of students come in and help and talk, and I think it’s just a great way to bring our Sandburg community together with a wonderful treat.” 

Served every morning with the exception of Wednesdays, you can find workers like Masa delivering orders or Timmy making coffees at the shop. No matter if the weather brings chilly winds or humid heat, you can start your day with a delicious drink and lots of smiles over at the Steaming Eagle.