REGIONAL UPDATE
Roasting in shops
BY ED AVIS
E
veryone knows that the fresher the beans, the bettertasting the coffee. So it stands to reason that some coffee
shops decide to roast their own beans. The advantages of
doing so, from higher margins to happier customers, are
worth the extra work.
Here is information from five shops around the country
that roast their own beans.
SO UTH
Cups Espresso Caf��
Jackson, Miss.
Unlike the other coffee shop roasters interviewed for
this Regional Update, Cups began as a coffee shop and
added roasting later. The current owners, Joyce and Dennis
Cameron, bought the business in 1993, and at that time there
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was just one location. Over the years other locations have
been added, including some franchised shops, and today the
company counts 11 locations.
About a year after the Camerons acquired the business,
they decided they wanted a little more control over the
product, so they went into roasting.
���Over the years we added more and more of our own
coffee, and eventually we went to only carry Cups-roasted
beans,��� says Claire Howell, the director of quality and
marketing at Cups.
Howell says Cups has a number of exclusive special
blends, including one called Captain Gabriel���s Blend. ���It���s
an homage to the man who is credited for bringing the first
coffee tree to the Americas, Captain Gabriel de Clieu,��� Howell
says. ���The coffee tastes deep and bright, with blueberry notes
and a long finish.���
The coffees Cups blends are truly exclusive. They don���t
