By: Deborah Johnson Wood
Grand Rapids' 910 Cherry Street is a popular destination for art lovers who make Imagerie Gallery a regular stopping off place. Now shoppers can follow their noses to a back room where Kurt Stauffer is busily roasting select coffee beans from around the world.
Stauffer started roasting coffee as a hobby three years ago. Last year he opened an online store, Rowster Coffee. The business grew too large to continue operating from his Cascade home.
"Since they did the ICCF renovation next door and added a patio area to the gallery, Rich App (Imagerie owner) said he had a room in the back and invited me to move my roaster in," Stauffer says. "Right now I'm doing a wholesale and retail business and the web business. We might add a café later."
He gets his coffee beans from small family farms and small cooperatives of coffee growers in Africa, Central America, and Puerto Rico.
"Every coffee has its own unique quality which can be brought out through a specific roasting type," Stauffer says. "For instance, Monsoon Malabar is aged to mimic being in the hold of a ship for two years, like it used to be back in history when it was sent by ship to England Ethiopian Yirgacheffee is best as a light coffee because of its almost fruity, lemony flavor."
Stauffer roasts the beans to order, so each customer receives fresh coffee. The coffee in his shop is just a few days old.
Customers can stop in to sample Stauffer's coffees and purchase them by the pound. He also sells to local restaurants, and plans to start a bicycle delivery service for nearby customers this summer.
Source: Kurt Stauffer, Rowster Coffee (courtesy photo)
Deborah Johnson Wood is development news editor for Rapid Growth Media. She can be contacted at [email protected].
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