The Corner Cup coffee shop, prominently located at 8074 Main St. in downtown Dexter, changed hands last fall and has become Joe and Rosie Coffee and Tea, run by Dexter resident Rachel Shelley.

“It’s slang for a ‘cup of Joe’ for coffee and ‘Rosie Lee’ means a cup of tea in cockney rhyming slang,” explains Shelley, who grew up in a small town outside London and moved here eight years ago for her husband’s automotive job.

Her son, a sixth-grader at Dexter’s Creekside School, came up with the design for the logo depicting the yin and yang of coffee and tea.

Although Corner Cup was never officially listed for sale, its owners — who also owned the shop as part of the Bearclaw Coffee Co. franchise for several years — decided to get out of the coffee shop business due to personal reasons.

Carol Kelly, left, and Rachel Shelley show off a plate of cupcakes at Shelley's new coffee shop in downtown Dexter, Joe and Rosie Coffee and Tea. Kelly recently started a home baking business and supplies cupcakes and other treats to Joe and Rosie.

Laura Blodgett | For AnnArbor.com

Shelley, who had been working as a barista at Coffee House Creamery on Jackson Road near Quality 16 for the past three years, learned it was available from her boss.

“I have been working in the restaurant industry all my life and always wanted to have my own business,” Shelley says. “When I learned this coffee shop was up for sale last fall, I talked to the owners and decided to buy it.”

So far it has been business as usual, although Shelley has made a few changes since taking over in November.

The menu offers more variety of freshly made sandwiches as well as a different soup each day. She would like to offer breakfast sandwiches, as well as a traditional afternoon tea service with cream and jam.

“I wanted to bring a bit of English to it with a few tea pots and tea cozies, and things like English chocolate that we now carry,” says Shelley.

The facade of Joe and Rosie Coffee and Tea.

Laura Blodgett | For AnnArbor.com

They now offer a large selection of loose leaf tea, and baked goods such as scones, strudel, shortbread and ‘flapjacks’ which Shelley describes as a very crunchy granola bar. She also hopes to host more tea parties for children’s birthdays.

Shelley will hold a cake competition on Saturday, April 9, along with Dexter resident and fellow Brit Carol Kelly, who recently launched her own baking company called Scrumptious. The $10 entry fee will support the early childhood program Dexter First Steps, as well as provide the prize money to the winning cake decorator.

Kelly also provides specialty baked goods for Joe and Rosie, such as his-and-hers cupcakes for Valentine’s Day. A cupcake with Guinness and green tea frosting is planned for St. Patrick’s Day.

“The Valentine’s ones were a big hit and we had people coming in asking for them,” says Shelley. “If things begin to pick up, maybe we’ll do a cupcake of the week or something.”

Kelly also makes cookies, mini sweet loaves such as banana and carrot cake, and other simple cakes.

An experienced language arts teacher for middle and high school, Kelly had been looking for something to do in addition to her long-term substitute teaching assignments. “Teaching jobs are hard to come by right now and I don’t sit at home not working very easily. So I started looking at what else I could do to raise money,” she says.

With friends’ encouragement and Michigan's adoption of a Cottage Food bill, which allows in-home production of some foods, Kelly decided to launch her baking business in January.

In addition to offering products at Joe and Rosie and filling private orders for baby showers and other events, Kelly plans to sell at the Dexter and Chelsea farmers markets. Eventually she would like to lease a licensed commercial kitchen and expand her business.

“I need to sell $5,000 in cupcakes a month to afford a commercial kitchen and cover rent, utilities, ingredients and pay me a salary,” explains Kelly. That equals roughly 2,500 cupcakes.

For now, Kelly is concentrating on getting the word out — and samples in mouths — around the Dexter community.

“No one is going to order 200 cupcakes if they don’t know what they taste like,” says Kelly.

She's donating $25 vouchers to fundraisers such as Dexter’s Cornerstone Elementary School silent auction, taking samples to local businesses and Chamber of Commerce meetings, and registering for wedding shows.

“I figure it will take at least three months of marketing before I start seeing any returns,” she says.

Although Kelly and Shelley grew up in the same hometown in England, they met in Dexter. They both have kids around the same age.

“Being in the community here is great,” says Shelley, who works in the shop 40 to 50 hours a week. “I’ve met so many English people since I’ve been in this coffee shop that I never met before.”

She would like to get more involved with the community by holding or catering events and bringing coffee and other goods to local sporting events.

She is also considering holding game nights at the shop as well as live music such as a guitarist or a singer. She hopes to extend her hours, especially on weekends, once the weather gets better.

“Business has been good so far, even in January,” says Shelley. “We are hopeful.”

Laura Blodgett is a freelance reporter for AnnArbor.com.