Business is Percolating for Tosa Coffee Maker

He doesn’t have his own coffee shop – at least not yet. However, Robb Kashevarof seems perfectly content roasting coffee beans three days a week for area restaurants, groceries, cafés, farmers markets, specialty stores and gas stations.

About two years ago, Kashevarof, his wife and a business partner opened up Valentine Coffee Roasters in Wauwatosa. The startup business is located at the headquarters of the Bartolotta Restaurant Group at 6005 W. Martin Drive.

“I ended up in Wauwatosa because one of my mentors and friends is Joe Bartolotta,” Kashevarof said. “When I showed him our business plan, he said, ‘It looks good but where are you going to put it?’ I just needed four walls so I could be a roaster and not a café just yet. So he let me lease space from him in the back of his corporate headquarters.”

Kashevarof worked for Bartolotta in the past and now supplies coffee to Bartolotta’s Mr. B’s, Harbor House, Lake Park Bistro and Bacchus restaurants. Valentine’s growing client list also includes the One Way Café in Wauwatosa; Beans & Barley, Highbury Pub and Groppi’s Market in Milwaukee; and Nehring’s Sendik’s in Shorewood.

Valentine Coffee Roasters prides itself on the flavor of its roasted coffee beans, much in the same way a winery beams about its fine wines.

“Our background is in wine and we treat coffee as such, meaning that we’re really dedicated to the origin of where the coffee comes from and we roast to a degree that will let that shine through,” explained Kashevarof. “Our philosophy of roasting isn’t to make things so dark that you can’t taste anything but tart coffee. We’re dedicated to a sweet cup of coffee.”

There are natural sugars in coffee and when the beans are roasted, the sugars are caramelized.

 “A lot of people are dark roasters, while others are white roasters only,” said Kashevarof. “It’s very expensive in labor and product the way we do what we do. We find the sweet spot of each bean where it shines beautifully and has a sweet aftertaste, not bitterness to it.”

Coraier Riegling, a server at Bartolotta's Lake Park Bistro, says there's something different about the coffee that makes a it hit with patrons.

"It's very smooth and I drink it all the time," Riegling said. "The customers really like the coffee and they say they've never really had anything that tastes like this before. It's a unique blend to Lake Park Bistro."

 As for doing business in Wauwatosa, Kashevarof says he couldn’t be happier.

“Wauwatosa is fantastic,” said Kashevarof. “The location is accessible to all of the markets we have.  The businesses are growing in Wauwatosa and it’s becoming an artisan downtown.  We’re part of the farmers market and we love it.”

If his business continues to grow, Kashevarof sees a time, perhaps within the next three to five years, where he will open up a coffee shop.

“We’d like that, but we don’t know if that’s the way it will pan out,” added Kashevarof. “For now, we’re just focused on acquiring the best quality coffee we can find and roasting it in the best possible way, keeping it as fresh as we can.”