Rockn' Joe Introduces Coffee's Third Wave

Finding a cup of coffee in downtown Millburn is not that hard, but the owner of the Rockn' Joe Coffee chain is looking to make his stores stand out with a new style of coffee drinking.

Kevin Brennan, the founder of the coffee chain, said he is in the process of making several changes to the coffee styles in the chain's seven locations. The main thrust of these changes is to bring the third wave of coffee to the cafes. Meaning there will be more of a focus on the actual flavors in the drink, in a hope to making the drinking of coffee similar to the drinking of wine.

Brennan said the first wave of coffee drinking started in Seattle with the introduction of European style coffeehouses. He said the second wave has been the introduction of these coffeehouses to street corners nationwide, with Starbucks leading the way, and other smaller chains popping up across the country, including his own, which was founded in Cranford in 1993. He said the growth strategy led coffee to become a fast food.

"Starbucks kept growing and incorrectly identified their competition as Dunkin' Donuts and McDonalds," Brennan said. "They went more towards the fast food product. What is happening now is the third wave. All these specialty shops have popped up. That is what the third wave is. Increasingly high standards, beautifully presented drinks, hand crafted, nothing on the automatic machine."

As a part of this new third wave of coffee, Brennan said he is planning on several changes to the way coffee is presented in the store. One of the projects will be the installation of new machine and new specialty blends of coffee. The new machine will feature five specialty blends Brennan will be highlighting at a given time. When a customer orders a specialty blend, the beans will be ground to order and then hot water will be poured on top of the beans in front of the customer.

The machine has been installed in Millburn and will be installed next week in Westfield. The machines are already in place in Point Pleasant and Orlando, Fla.

When customers receive coffee from this machine and other new flavors from the coffeehouse, the staff will be asking them to drink it black before adding any milk or sugar to the drink. Brennan said he wants to try to switch coffee drinkers over to black coffee because they will be able to taste the various flavors in the drink. He noted that finely ground coffee will allow for a variety of flavors to come out, including berries and chocolate flavors. He said the dark coffees favored by other chain coffeehouses do not contain these flavors and milk and sugar are needed to make the coffee drinkable.

"Coffee is complex like wine," Brennan said. "If you go into Dunkin' Donuts you say give me a coffee. It is low grade beans. You need to put milk and sugar in it. When it is a great coffee and you drink it straight black you look at the complexities that are going on."

As a part of the wave of coffee, Brennan said he will be featuring various coffees from around the world, including Ethiopia and Guatemala. The various new blends of coffee will be offered as specials, allowing for a customer to enjoy a 16 ounce cup up to $4.25 for a rarer blend.

Brennan said his stores will be offering a variety of workshops regarding coffee and the various flavors of coffee. For a small cost, customers will be able to learn how to detect the flavors of coffee, along with learning various tidbits about the drink. Food pairings will be explained and offered. Brennan said the store will break even on the cost of the programs.

Outside of coffee flavors, Brennan is planning new initiatives regarding milk and espresso drinks. In this area, he will be training baristas to properly steam and foam milk to bring out more proteins in the milk, along with the flavor of the milk. This will include not putting too much foam in a beverage. Outside of this, baristas will be trained to mix milk into a latte while creating a design on the top of the drink. Some small designs can be seen in hot beverages in Westfield and Millburn already, and a formal training program is underway.

Brennan said the store has been opening more franchises in the metro region, along with one leaving the area. In addition to stores in Union, Essex, Middlesex and Monmouth Counties, Brennan is preparing for one to open later this year in Bethlehem, Penn. and one just opened in Orlando.

He said the Florida location came up after he started looking for franchises outside of New Jersey and he received inquiries from Florida, California and Texas. He nixed California because of distance and was leery about the Lone Star State. Thus, the Sunshine State received more notice. Brennan explained that he looks to place the locations in walkable communities with downtowns, noting that he finds this business model to work best. He does not want to be in strip malls. He noted that he is currently exploring more locations in Florida.

Brennan said he is hoping to spur a renewed debate about coffee in Millburn, Westfield and other communities he is in. He said the new machines and new wave of coffee are what he hopes stimulate a coffee conversation in town.

"There is nothing else you have so much fun with that has zero calories," he said.