A project 10 years in the making is now open on the west side of Great Falls.

Broadwater Coffee Brewing Company had a soft opening Friday and is now open 6 a.m. to 2 p.m. Monday through Saturday.

Owner Heather Kunz said she wasn’t a coffee drinker and specialty coffee shops didn’t exist in Great Falls when she started kicking around the idea of opening a coffee shop about a decade ago. But a college friend in Seattle is into coffee and got Kunz going to coffee trade shows and events.

“I fell in love with the industry, the people and the art,” she said.

Kunz said life got in the way for awhile but eventually, things lined up “and we just kind of jumped.”

She actively searched for a location on the west side and wanted to have a drive through. She’d talked to the property owner of the building at 721 6th St. S.W. that once housed Ryan’s Station and now houses Texture Salon.

The timing didn’t work out until about a year ago when she got the lease.

Then it took time to remodel the interior, deal with frozen pipes, a broken espresso machine and other challenges. Her husband Jason, owns Speaking Socially, and has helped out on the marketing and design part of starting up the coffee shop.

On Friday, friends and family were helping out for the soft launch and Kunz said that support had been instrumental to the coffee shop dream turning into reality.

In the beginning, Kunz said she didn’t know much about coffee, but as she attended the industry shows, she tasted a wide variety and one eventually caught her taste buds.

She sought out the roaster that now makes a specific blend for Broadwater Coffee.

The shop will also featured drinks with Red Bull since Kunz met a fellow coffee fiend at Coffee Fest 2015 who is also does sales for Red Bull and was in town helping out with the Broadwater launch.

The menu will also include breakfast sandwiches and liege waffles, which are leavened with caramelized sugar.

For the next few weeks, Kunz and her team are working out the kinks and she’s planning a grand opening in about three to four weeks. There’s also a mobile app in the works so you can order your coffee en route.