Running your own espresso stand, even here in America's coffee capital, sometimes means finding sour lumps in the bottom of the cup - for the barista as well as the landlord.

Take the case of Christie Reynolds. She owns the Red Hot Espresso stand on Southwest Roxbury Street. It's in a parking lot owned by Roxbury Complete Auto Parts store next door. Reynolds has withheld rent payments for the past seven months and next week is taking her landlord to mediation to resolve the dispute.

Her landlord is Bill Crawford, owner of the auto parts store, who thinks he's been more than accommodating toward Reynolds. He's getting fed up and is now considering eviction procedures against her.

Sales percolated nicely for about a year after Reynolds bought the Red Hot Espresso stand as a going concern in September 2005. Then came a surprise notice from the Washington Department of Ecology. A half dozen fuel storage tanks buried under and around the espresso stand had to be exhumed.

So called "tank yanks" occur at the site of nearly every former gas station because the metal tanks rust and leak after decades underground. That contaminates the soil around the tanks and provokes worries the pollutants could get into clean underground water sources.

The excavation started Oct. 20 but, because of unusually wet, windy and cold weather, the work was frequently delayed. It took two and a half months to dig out the old gasoline and heating oil tanks.

Meanwhile coffee sales at Red Hot Espresso cooled 65 percent, Reynolds said.

"December is my best month too," she said.

Crawford moved the Red Hot Espresso stand to a temporary location in front of his store while the tank excavation was underway and hired electricians to reconnect the stand's power supply.

"She was up and running the same day," Crawford said. "She was never closed for even one hour."

Rent for the space occupied by the espresso stand is $500 a month.

"We told her she wouldn't have to pay rent while she was moved," Crawford said.

But Reynolds complained that, while doing business in the temporary location, customers of the auto parts store purposely parked too close to the espresso stand to box out her customers. She claims the non-customers were allies of Crawford who wanted to force her off the property.

Crawford said he has seven parking spaces for his auto-parts customers and Reynolds regularly parks her vehicle in one of those spaces.

In January when he moved the stand back to its original location on the east side of the property, Reynolds still refused to pay rent.

Although the underground tanks are gone and the holes backfilled, the weather hasn't been warm enough to repave the area around Red Hot Espresso. The parking lot is scheduled to be repaved in May.

Until the lot is repaved, there is no painted lane to guide customers to the stand's two drive-through windows. Using a formula based on the proximity of other espresso stands, King County required Reynolds to paint an off-street queue lane long enough for seven cars, she said.

Another unexpected expense hit Reynolds. In a separate incident, King County fined her $3,000 for not having a permit to build a small front porch on the espresso stand.

Crawford claims Reynolds owes him more than seven months rent because she paid only half the rent last July and August, and then just $100 for September. She stopped paying altogether in October, he said.

Even so, Crawford continues to pay the electric and water bills for the espresso stand, which amount to about $250 a month.

Asked when she intends to start paying the rent, Reynolds replied it will be when she's making $225 a day. Sales are on the increase, she added.

"She's causing her own problems," Crawford said. "All she does is complain and people get sick of it."

A mediation session between the two business owners is scheduled for April 24.

Tim St. Clair can be contacted at timstc@robinsonnews.com or 932-0300.