Our Story
Ron Burns and his wife, Melanie, live in rural Pine River. With homeschooling 9 children and running multiple businesses, they haven't had a lot of time for hobbies, but they've made missions trips a priority, Ron has taken kids on many trips to both Mexico and Honduras. In both countries, he loves the culture, the climate, and the coffee. While falling in love with the Honduran and Mexican people, Ron has gotten to work closely with some coffee farmers. Through those relationships, he's experienced growing, harvesting, drying, grading, sorting, roasting, preparing, and selling coffee. It has fascinated him for over a decade.
Two Burns daughters, Hannah and Sarah, purchased a coffee shop in the spring of 2021. At the ages of 18 and 21, they needed a little support, and the family was happy to provide it. In the search for good coffee suppliers, there seemed to be a need for local high-quality coffee beans at a reasonable price. The heat got turned up on Ron's dream of getting beans from his friends in Oaxaca, Mexico and roasting them. It was a good season for a new hobby, so in May of 2021, he ordered a roaster and his first 300 pounds of beans, registered the assumed name, and bought the website domain name. His Oaxacan friends weren't quite ready to export, so he purchased top-quality beans from online brokers. Dreams often come true in stages, right? Why in the world does he think he can do this? Well, before his current health care career, he was a scientist. In the genetics lab, precision and consistency were key. (Like in roasting coffee.). Careful calculations and calibrations were made. (Like in roasting coffee.) Traits of the individual samples had to be factored in and adjusted for. (Like in roasting coffee.) High quality samples with no contamination were required for good outcome. (Like in roasting coffee.) There was a key piece of equipment that changed and held temperatures for different lengths of time to stimulate and optimize desired chemical processes. (Like in roasting coffee.) He followed and developed protocols so that when optimal results were achieved, the process could be repeated. (Like in roasting coffee.) See? This isn't such a leap for him! Maybe he'll wear a lab coat in the roastery. |