Made on Cape Cod: Beanstock Coffee

Back when Starbucks was taking hold of the takeout coffee industry, Beanstock Coffee was brewing its own independent brand on Cape Cod.

Beanstock was originally founded as a small coffee shop and specialty roasting business in 1996 at the Inn at Duck Creek in Wellfleet by Kyle Oliver and Polly Moryl.

John Simonian, who became a partner in the company in 2000, was intent on continuing the original mission of creating quality coffees while providing great customer service and connecting with the community.

Simonian took over sales and business development, and saw amazing results due to “the support and quick interest from local restaurants, delis and coffee shops. The embrace of Cape Cod for a Cape Cod company was huge.”

At Beanstock they say "Coffee is personal," because there isn’t just one coffee for everyone. That's why they offer a wide variety of roasts from bold to mellow and conventional to organic and fair trade. 

The Cape Beach Blend, made with high-grown beans from Central and South America and Indonesia, is described as a “big, rich, smooth, clean and earthy blend.” The Nauset Blend is organic, and the flavor is mild, smooth and naturally sweet. The Slack Tide Blend is a half-regular, half-decaf blend made from Sumatra Organic and Decaf Sumatra Organic.

Beanstock also ventured into the world of craft beers with a collaboration with Cape Cod Beer. Together they produced Stock Stout, a locally brewed milk stout infused with Beanstock’s Bali Blue Moon Organic Coffee.

Beanstock is certified as an organic roaster by the Baystate Organic Certifiers. To be certified organic, Beanstock must follow a closely monitored process from ordering the beans, to grinding the beans, to storing the coffee. Once a year, the certifiers go through all of their records, and tracks the beans from growth to distribution.

Beanstock's specialty roasting process takes between 12 and 15 minutes to complete. The head roaster, Peter Duff, roasts about 15 to 20 pounds of beans at a time, and gets them to a specific temperature as soon as possible. They roast all coffee in small batches in order to guarantee freshness.

The humidity, temperature and moisture all factor in to the roasting process, and Simonian says they “have to watch these constantly.” They also have to really pay attention to the beans as they expand, “where you are defining your roast in your second crack.”

The quality of the beans and Simonian’s hard work has paid off. The business has grown to 40 times the size they were in 2000 with accounts all the way up to Wellesley, and a few in Pennsylvania and New York.

They have also started to participate in Shaw’s Supermarkets' hyper-local program, selling in many of their Cape Cod and South Shore grocery stores.

And according to Simonian, he would like to see further growth on and off-Cape, as long as they can stay true to their original mission and continue to foster the good local support that has gotten them to where they are today.

Beanstock Coffee can be purchased at Fancy’s Market in Osterville, the Barnstable General Store in Barnstable, Peterson’s Market in Dennis and is served at La Petite France Café, The Daily Paper and Brown Bag Bagel in Hyannis. You can visit them online at beanstockcoffee.com.