I thought it would be fun to write every once in a while about our coffee business. Just to remember how it all started and how it all went. Plus, it seems to be the first thing people ask me about these days when I see them. Now, this is something we never intend on becoming Ian's main job, but a side business meant for fun and just see where it goes.
Over the weekend, we participated in our second event that we sold coffee at. The first one was in June at Four Friend Market (a small business market three of my friends and I hosted). It was a huge success. Ian sold a ton of both french press coffee as well as cold brew. He also sold a bunch of bags of whole beans. Ian is definitely the social one of the two of us, so really he spent a lot of time chatting with people about coffee, while I served people that wanted to buy stuff ;) This past weekend, we were asked to have a table at the one year anniversary of a local cafe, LAMO Cafe in Turlock. They had one other local coffee roaster, as well and the coffee roaster that supplies the cafe with it's coffee. The event itself was packed. We did sell a lot of whole bean coffee, but not as many cups of coffee, as most people bought coffee from the actual cafe on their way into the event. As a result of the event, Ian now has bags of his coffee
on the shelves in the cafe for sale. This is the second location he is now in. He is also in
Barley & Wine, a beer and wine supply store in Modesto.
Another exciting opportunity that Ian is doing is barrel aging a batch of coffee in a whisky barrel from a local distillery,
Do Good Distillery. The green coffee will sit in the whisky barrel for a month, then Ian will take it out and roast it. I have to admit, I was crossing my fingers that the barrel would stay at the distillery, but low and behold, Ian showed up with it at our house about a week ago. It actually is really cool looking and nowhere near the size of a wine barrel, so I am fine with it. Plus, I am starting to accept the fact that coffee related paraphernalia is literally starting to take over my house. I thought toys were the number one thing in my house, but coffee stuff is quickly catching up…and may soon pass up toys.
All exciting stuff aside, Ian is still roasting at least once a week, sometimes twice. I generally label, weigh, bag and heat seal all the coffee while he is roasting. Cold brew in 64oz growlers has been a huge hit this summer and we have been selling 5+ gallons of it a week. People still pick their coffee up from our front porch. Sometimes I notice them, sometimes I don't. Sometimes one of the kids will come inform me someone was just there. There is something kind of charming about people picking up a locally made product right off the sellers front porch.
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