With a deep, unbridled passion for coffee and a desire to create a communal hub, Peter and Leah Hodges have set up shop, quite literally, in their own front yard.

“Our vision is to create a place in a homely environment and nothing says home more than someone’s front yard,” Peter said.

“We want people to want to come here because they like to hang out and this is something different. We want people to think, well, that’s a cool place.”

Named The Bearded Cactus, the coffee van stocks Maitland roasting beans and Lochinvar milk and is located along the New England Highway at East Maitland.

There are also plans to expand the enterprise to include an area for people sit and enjoy their coffee.

“We really want people to come in and enjoy themselves, we want to meet people,” Mr Hodges, 37, said.

The couple is also part of a mobile family business serving up wood-fire pizzas to the masses, but Mrs Hodges’ passion has always been coffee.

“Leah’s been a barista for about 15 or 16 years when this came along, so we decided to go with it and away we went,” Mr Hodges said.

“We’ve always done the mobile thing with our other business and when we go to an event the first thing we do is search for a coffee and you see all these people lining up and we want in on that action.”

Since its January 5 opening, The Bearded Cactus has doubled its customer base. 

“I think people are becoming more educated about coffee and we are not into coffee snobbery, but we want to make something good,” Mr Hodges said.