Plans for a new Christian coffee shop in Kimmswick are brewing.
Behold Coffee, which recently purchased Pothos Coffee, will be reopening this spring at the same location, 105 Market St.
Rachael Steudeman, of St. Louis, is the majority owner of Behold Coffee. She said she hopes to have Behold open for business at the beginning of April.
Steudeman said she has dreamed of having her own coffee shop for many years. She started dipping her toes into the coffee scene in 2022 by creating and selling large jugs of pre-made lattes and syrups from home. She then took a job in a coffee shop in Kirkwood, starting as a barista and eventually being promoted to shop manager, where she stayed for more than three years.
Steudeman said she and her husband, Jonathan, will be opening Behold Coffee with longtime friends Jonathan and Katy Goldstein of Pevely.
The Goldsteins are the owners of Conductor Coffee, a De Soto-based coffee bean roasting company that the couple started in 2022. Jonathan is the head roaster; Katy is the social media manager.
Conductor Coffee supplied the coffee for Pothos Coffee, which was owned by Ericka and Andrew Kennedy. Jonathan Goldstein said Katy grew up with Andrew and they had known the Kennedys for many years before introducing them to the Steudemans.
“We’ve known Andrew and Ericka for a long time, and we’ve known Jon and Rachael for a long time. Jon and Rachael and Andrew and Ericka did not know each other. We introduced them,” Jonathan Goldstein said.
During a visit with the Kennedys in the fall of 2025, Steudeman mentioned her dream of eventually having a coffee shop of her own. She said Andrew Kennedy floated the idea of selling Pothos to her in the future because they had been seriously considering stepping back from the business after the birth of a child so they could spend more time together as a family.
“I went home and talked to my husband, and we were praying about it, and we felt like the Lord wanted us to tell them that we were serious,” Steudeman said.
She said she and her husband sat down with the Kennedys to seriously discuss the possibility of a sale.
“I think both couples were kind of shocked at the level of seriousness we were both at,” she said. “The ball got rolling really quickly and it felt like the timing, all of it was the Lord’s, like it was completely orchestrated and happened so seamlessly. It’s been really fun so far.”
So, when Steudeman decided to purchase Pothos, the choice of her head roaster for Behold Coffee seemed obvious.
“We had joked a couple years ago, like, ‘Hey Jon, when are you going to come be my roaster?’ And we laughed about it. Through all of this, it felt like it was all sort of a joke until it wasn’t anymore,” she said.
Together, the Goldsteins and Steudemans decided to fold Conductor Coffee into the Behold brand, with Jonathan coming aboard as a minority owner and head roaster.
“Conductor Coffee will no longer exist as its own thing. It’s becoming Behold Coffee, and we’re basically combining forces to make this really incredible experience in Kimmswick,” Goldstein said.
In addition to roasting coffee, Goldstein works full time in the information technology field for a nonprofit business in Fenton.
From Pothos to Behold
Steudeman said Pothos customers can expect to see some differences in the coffee shop, including switching out an ordering window for a bar area which includes coffee equipment, a pastry case and a register.
She said the pastry case will contain things like cinnamon rolls and croissants. She said she will also have a small amount of food offerings, such as artisanal sandwiches and grab-and-go breakfast items like chia seed pudding and overnight oats parfaits.
Steudeman said the drink menu will include specialty coffee, an espresso menu, drip coffee, specialty lattes, matcha, teas, hot chocolate and seasonal items such as apple cider. She said the drink menu will have staple items as well as rotating seasonal flavors.
She said she will also add more seating options, hoping for Behold to have at least 30 seats.
Goldstein said fans of Pothos Coffee can rest easy that they can still experience the cup of joe they have come to love.
“From the coffee shop perspective, customers are going to recognize that it’s still a place where you can come and sit and have amazing coffee. They’re going to recognize the coffee because I really do believe it is unique and unlike anything anyone’s had before.”
Stop and smell the coffee
Steudeman said Behold will be a Christian coffee shop, but all will be welcome.
She said the name Behold comes from one of her favorite scripture verses, Revelation 3:20 where Jesus says, “Behold, I stand at the door and knock. If anyone hears my voice and opens the door, I will come in to him and eat with him, and he with me.”
Steudeman said she felt inspired to create a space where people could stay a while, drink coffee, eat and have long deep conversations together. She hopes to encourage those long conversations in different ways, including having conversation-starting prompts at all the tables.
“Something that I’m going to do is going to be called the table discount, where any group that is five or more people, gets a 10 percent discount off their tickets, and it’s for here only. It’s my way of encouraging people to come in groups to foster and cultivate their own communities that they’re already a part of but doing it at Behold.”
Steudeman said she plans for Behold Coffee to be open from Tuesday through Sunday. She said the hours have not been decided yet. She said updates will be posted on Behold Coffee’s Facebook and Instagram pages.