FLOYD COUNTY, Va. – Coffee is the drink that gets us going in the morning and for many of us, our first flavor hit of the day.
Over the past few years, America's taste in coffee has evolved. People are no longer concerned about just getting the caffeine, but want coffee with interesting and unique flavors as well. With those changing tastes comes a boost in local coffee roasters across the country.
Just like the growth we've seen with craft beers and craft spirits in Virginia, we're seeing a similar trend with small batch coffee roasters.
Coffee Beaned, a national website that reports on local roasters has been working hard to keep up with all of the new micro-roasters each year. The most recent report from August lists more 1,600 coffee roasters throughout the United States, with new roasters opening up every month.
One of the newest roasters in our region, Open Road Roastery, set up shop in Floyd County last year. Each week the husband and wife team heads out to their roasting site perched on a mountainside with a beautiful view.
Chad and Jen Jones roast a small batch of 10 to 20 pounds of coffee, just enough to meet the growing demands of their customers and the local shops that sell their blends.
Chad says the quick growth of the locally roasted coffee industry played a small part in their decision to start their own roasting company.
"There's a lot of great coffee in the area, but I'll pull no punches and say there's also some bad coffee in the area. You take the good with the bad," he says. "You just have to find out what people like and make sure you're providing the best cup for them."
As a longtime chef, Chad says mixing the flavors of the coffee beans from different regions of the world and figuring out just how long to roast them, is second nature to him.
Since roasting their first batch of coffee beans, Chad and Jen have been working hard to expand their business. In their mission to grow, they've teamed up with other small businesses throughout the region.
Still relatively new to the coffee roasting business, the Jones don't have their own brick and mortar business for selling their blends. But over the past year, Jen has worked made connections with other small businesses like theirs to get their coffee on shelves in almost every area of the New River and Roanoke Valleys.
Cocoa Mia in Floyd, the Coffee Grinder in Pulaski, Olykoek Doughnut Shoppe in Wytheville, Eli's Provisions in Roanoke and Corbin's Confections in Salem all offer Open Road Roastery's coffee.
"Most of these places are small, like us," says Jen. "They've gotten a start similar to ours. They have a wonderful story just like us for why they do what they do."
On September 9, Open Road Roastery is teaming up with another small business, The Draper Mercantile, to host a Grind and Dine dinner event. The dinner will feature dishes infused with their various brews and experts on hand to walk guests through all of the different flavors.
For more on that event, click here. To learn more about Open Road Roastery and to order their coffee blends online, click here.