Zen and the Art of Perfect Coffee Bean Roasting

In our country’s current economic state, a business, even if it has a decent plan behind it cannot just start up and hope to be successful. A start-up needs to offer an outstanding product and have partners that it works well with and can trust.

The business needs to connect with customers and give them a product that outstrips competitors, especially if the business is competing in a saturated market. The business needs to be inspired. Zen Roasters, a coffee roasting company based in Higganum, is that type of start-up.

Zen Roasters Coffee Company is the creation of company President and co-owner Tim Houlton, a Connecticut native and lifelong fan of high-end coffee. Houlton, who teaches at Haddam-Killingworth Middle School, had always made his own coffee and then sold it at school. Zen Roasters came from the realization, as Houlton says, “that I should be making money if I was going to do all this work.”

Plenty of people with similar career and lifestyles to Houlton may be passionate about coffee and brew and sell it themselves. That does not mean they would be capable of starting up a successful roasting business. Houlton and co-owner Rik Frankel have built a strong business in the last year because they made every effort possible to do so.

Houlton, along with his partner, narrowed down the top small micro-roasting machines in the world before purchasing the San Francisco SF-6 Roaster. Desperate to learn, the Zen Roasters duo went all the way to Charlottesville, Va., to discover both roasting and business techniques from local coffee maven Dave Faffar, gaining from him the understanding that Zen Roasters would need to appreciate every variable involved in roasting.

Because of the early legwork Zen Roasters put into building its business, it has been able to reach its current high points.

Even with the effort Houlton and Frankel put into learning roasting, the business had to spend a significant amount of time perfecting its product before it could make an impact on the market. Zen Roasters started in Houlton’s garage and operated out of there for roughly five months.

During that time, the duo constantly experimented with their product, studying videos, reading books, and getting advice from local roasters on the art of roasting. Eventually, Zen Roasters was able to create a flavorful product that specializes in single origin roasting. As Houlton states, all the work he and his partner put into building Zen Roasters allowed them to create a superior product “that is so good you can drink it black.”

Zen Roasters has only been a commercial business for roughly eight months, but in that time it has been able to find an impressive measure of success. With a number of high quality roasts, including Sumatra Mandeling, Ethiopia Yergacheffe, and Honduran Ocotepeque, Zen Roasters was able to establish equal partnerships with area grocery stores and restaurants that were eager for its business.

It has now expanded to the point where you can purchase Zen Roasters coffee at a number of locations, including Klekelo World Coffee in Middletown, RJ Julia Booksellers Cafe in Madison and Grist Mill Country Market in Higganum.

The business has established a central roasterie location in Higganum and is planning to open a second full roaster very soon. Zen Roasters has a heavy presence on both Facebook and Twitter, and has also reached out to customers by holding tastings in Middletown and other locations in the area.

“I want Zen Roasters to be sold all over New England and for our online business to expand,” Houlton says. “I want to make as many customers as possible excited and passionate about high-quality coffee.”    

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