Today we’d like to introduce you to Roasters Behind Peak City Coffee
Hi Roasters Behind Peak City Coffee, please kick things off for us with an introduction to yourself and your story.
In 2012, while pouring another cup of overrated coffee in the break room of a local IT company, someone told Mike, “You know, you can roast your coffee.” When a person who is already a homebrewing and culinary enthusiast hears that, it’s on! For our first roast, we created a roast drum using two colanders attached to a broomstick and shook it inside our wood-fired pizza oven. It was fun to try but certainly not sustainable. We converted our gas grill to a roaster using an electric rotating drum. Couple a constant rotation and an introduction to specialty grade coffee beans, and we were making some pretty good coffee for ourselves (& friends & family, of course). We spent the next eight years working with importers trying coffees from all over the world. We moved towards selecting beans rated high enough to be considered “Specialty Coffee” per the standards set by the Specialty Coffee Association (SCA).
In June 2019, we attended our first formal training on grading beans, importing, roasting, and cupping at Mill City Roasters in Minneapolis. We decided it was time to share our love for higher-quality coffee. Now, 2 years later, our coffee can be found online, sold, and served in many local stores and restaurants. Our flagship roasts are a medium and a dark Colombian, Peak City House Blend, and Full Steam. They were roasted and designed to resonate with the homegrown, small-town feeling we have right here in Apex. We then began honoring other NC small towns with roasts we call Whispering Pines, Carova, and Highlands.
Can you talk to us about the challenges and lessons you’ve learned along the way? Would you say it’s been easy or smooth in retrospect?
Starting any business can be tricky as you navigate permitting, regulations, funding, timing, and other restrictions. These can be managed, worked around, and overcome with perseverance and patience. We’ve taken this journey slow and steady.
Thanks for sharing that. So, maybe next you can tell us a bit more about your work?
Personally, Mike & I have full-time careers that are very different from roasting coffee but bring our different skills to the table. Mike is a software engineer who brings creativity and problem-solving. Shelly is in finance and accounting, which brings a business background to building a business.
We’d love to hear what you think about risk-taking?
I think starting any business is risky. We launched at the heart of the pandemic. But the pandemic also gave us time to make this dream a reality. With a slower lifestyle, we could spend more time developing our roasts and learning our trade.
Pricing:
- Specialty Coffee is priced higher than most other coffees
Contact Info:
- Website: www.peakcitycoffee.com
- Instagram: @peakcitycoffee
- Facebook: peakcitycoffee
- Youtube: https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCEMqesGNikLMA-ZjS6F8LUg
- Other: tiktok: peakcitycoffee
Image Credits
personal photo: Laine Anderson Photography Mike roasting image: Heights Digital Media Product photo: Laine Anderson Photography
