John Rich was already a coffee roasting hobbyist, buying and roasting beans for his own usage. When he went looking for a new business to develop, coffee seemed like a natural extension of something he was already good at and enjoyed. In just a short time, his company, Sacred Grounds Coffee Roasters, has begun to do a thriving storefront business as well as supplying coffee to area grocery stores. The store did excellent business heading into the holiday season.
Rich’s company also allows coffee lovers to put their money where their ethics are. Customers not only have the opportunity to shop locally, but all of Rich’s coffee is strictly fair trade and grown using sustainable methods.
Grown in developing country, coffee is sometimes harvested using child labor or slave labor. A customer who purchases fair trade coffee like that at Sacred Grounds can be certain that the workers were treated fairly and that sustainable agricultural practices were used. Rich says this was an important component for him in choosing where he would purchase his supplies. He buys his coffee from producers in Mexico, Africa, Asia, South America and Central America.
Wisely, Rich has started small. With his infra-red roaster, a Sedona Elite, he can roast up to 7 pounds at once and a total of 200 daily. As demand increases, he says he plans to purchase a second roaster.
At present, his coffee can be purchased at New Milford’s Natural Market Place, Davis IGA in Kent and Sherman IGA, and at Nature’s Temptations in Ridgefield. Grocery store customers have a choice of Supernatural, Mexico Chiapas or Ethiopia Yirgacheffe. The latter two are medium roasts, and Mexico Chiapas incorporates the flavors of brown sugar and chocolate while Ethiopia Yirgacheffe blends milk chocolate and blueberry notes into its roast. For those who prefer a darker roast, Supernatural also has a touch of roasted almonds and chocolate.
The owner of Sherman IGA, Mike Luzi, reported being impressed with the coffee he tried. Other customers report a similar satisfaction as well as enjoying the smell of the coffee and the great holiday gift options at Sacred Grounds. The cafe itself offers daily specials that include additional coffees not yet available in local markets.
Rich has not always been in the coffee business. In college, he studied communication, and he spent the 1990s working at NBC and for various media start-ups. Later he and his brother went into real estate together, but the two sold the business. Rich then went looking for another line of work. He said he spent a good deal of time researching the coffee business before taking the plunge although he already purchased beans from a broker for home use. In a way, his new business is simply a matter of scaling the volume of that up to purchases of 150 pounds.
The business is located next to Amore Restaurant in the Route 37 East Plaza. It is closed on Sunday, but customers can get their coffee fix the other six days of the week between 8 a.m. and 6 p.m. on weekdays and 10 a.m. to 6 p.m. on Saturdays.