Ah, a cup of Joe! That fresh smell to wake you up in the morning, a warm cup with a soothing aroma to keep company while reading a book; whatever your nostalgia with a cup, there’s nothing better than a fresh roast.
For this week’s Hometown Tourist we take you to Sault Ste. Marie to check out , a place that’s a must visit for a coffee lover with a big heart for the local community.
“I would say pretty well. Every person that comes in here sort of has a knee-jerk reaction, ‘Oh my goodness! It smells so good in here,’ you know, love the smell,” said owner Ron Kurnik.
Ron Kurnik grew up roasting fresh coffee at home, and when he moved back to the Soo he thought, ‘This town needs a fresh roast for a good cup of Joe.
“We import the coffee from seven different countries right now. Of course, we create our own blends with those, as well as single origin offerings,” explained Kurnik.
The coffee arrives in large burlap bags and they hand-sort through the green, unroasted beans. And so the process of roasting begins. It’s pretty short, usually 12-16 minutes, and boy, does it smell good!
“Then, it’s dumped and cooled as quickly as possible, because it comes out quite hot, 420-430 or more degrees,” said Kurnik.
From there, they weigh the beans and put them into bags for you to take the aroma home and put in your next cup.
They have a passion for not just the beans, but also the water that we use to make that morning pick me up.
“Given that a cup of coffee is 99 percent water, you know, that’s an important element of good coffee is to have good water. So our local focus here, especially for charity and support, is with the Watershed, the Lake Superior,” explained Kurnik.
And what is it about a freshly roasted coffee that just feels right?
Well, as coffee ages it goes bitter, and that’s why a fresh roast can just make all the difference.
“The freshness is really nice and smooth, it doesn’t have any bitterness,” said Kurnik. “Unfortunately, too many people are used to that, and so by having this as an option, people have really picked up on the difference and it’s done very well here in this community.”
So with coffee from seven different countries, making their own blends and organic coffee flavorings along with espresso, decaf and k-cups, there’s just about anything to percolate in your coffeemaker.
“Depending on the soil it was grown in, just what’s growing in and around these coffee plants, it’s all Arabica, but even within that variety there are subsets of different coffee strains that create a sort of unique flavor and characteristic,” explained Kurnik.
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