Liv Joyce prepares coffee in a slug-themed cup. A list of menu specials offers peach brulee, coconut cardamom and strawberry milk as lattes or matchas.

It’s hard to miss Slug Coffee, the latest addition to the food cart pod at 11th and Duane Streets in Astoria.

First, it’s bright yellow. Second, there’s a giant banana slug on the roof.

With a decade of experience as a scenic artist, Slug Coffee owner Liv Joyce had the idea to construct the yellow fiberglass sculpture after opening the cart over the summer.

Joyce took over the former location of Coffee OR Waffle, where she previously worked as a barista. She is also a part-time stage manager at the Liberty Theatre.

A conversation starter

The process of building the slug sculpture, she said, felt like stage design. “With the whole downtown watching, it felt reminiscent of theater work,” Joyce said. She felt the pressure of a ready-made audience, along with questions from onlookers — especially kids.

“A lot of children are very excited when they see the giant yellow slug, but it’s been fun to interact with parents with young children around town,” Joyce said.

But the project proved to be a good conversation starter among regulars and would-be customers.

“I am an artist, so it’s given me an opportunity to talk to folks about their own art projects,” the coffee cart owner said. “People enjoy talking to me about the stages of the project and that’s been a cool thing to come out of this.”

The slug theme grew out of interactions with coffee lovers on rainy Astoria days.

“It’s funny that locals would come to an outside coffee shop and buy their warm cup of coffee and walk around in the rain and ignore the fact that it was raining. They kind of reminded me of slugs,” she said.

‘Take time to slow down’

For Joyce, slugs also serve as an intentional reminder to slow down. “I try to take time to slow down and appreciate everything and everyone around me. No matter how socially exhausted I feel, I’m grateful they choose to spend their money and I’m so humbled by that every time it happens.”

Locals and visitors have embraced not only the slug life, but Joyce’s creative take on coffee drinks.

The popular strawberry milk matcha starts with a pink mixture of freeze-dried strawberry and white chocolate powder. Matcha powder is added along with strawberry syrup, which drizzles down the inside of the cup to create a contrasting ribbon of red.

In the fall, Slug Coffee will be rolling out a new drink, the BooBerry matcha latte, in time for Halloween. Joyce’s homage to the ghost-themed cereal with a cultlike following begins with a purple mixture of blended blueberry puree and milk.

An illusion of floating ghosts is created with spoons of marshmallow fluff, while a shot of green matcha dumped on top forms a ribbon through the center of the iced version of the drink. It’s also available as a hot drink.

Joyce is happy that her drinks and the big yellow slug help start good conversations in her daily one-on-one interactions with customers.

“It really grew on me,” she said. “I really appreciate having my ear to the ground and interacting with my regular customers.”

Slug Coffee

Slug Coffee

Open Monday through Friday from 8 a.m. to 3 p.m. at 11th and Duane streets, across from Astoria City Hall

Serving coffee plus baked goods made by Kelly McKenzie, of Astoria-based Easy Baked Coven

@slug.coffee