Our Roaster Spotlight this week:
Paul Bonds
located in the Jackson, Mississippi Metro Area.
GoCoffeeGo: Where did the idea to start a coffee company in Flowood, Mississippi come from?
Paul Bonds: BeanFruit Coffee initially started from a hobby. I was roasting coffee at home and decided to try my hand at starting the business as a side thing while I was still working my full-time job. Eventually, the business started picking up some steam and a following.
GoCoffeeGo: What influenced you to start BeanFruit Coffee? Did you grow up drinking delicious coffee?
Paul Bonds: I actually grew up hating coffee. I couldn't stand the taste of it. Matter of fact, I still don't like the taste of sub-par quality coffee that I was exposed to growing up. Right after college, I had a chance to try some fresh-roasted specialty grade coffee - a washed Ethiopia Yirgacheffe - and my perspective of what coffee could be completely changed. It was the first time I recognized flavors on my palate that matched the tasting notes on the bag. It was sweet, tea-like and floral - flavors that I had never before associated with coffee. I started buying high quality coffee from roasters all over the US and that led me to try roasting at home. I really felt like Mississippi was missing a progressive third-wave coffee roaster and I wanted to share my coffee experience with others and thus BeanFruit Coffee was born.
GoCoffeeGo: How have you changed people's perception of coffee in your town?
Paul Bonds: I really feel that we exposed customers in our area to high-quality single origins and micro-lots. Most of our customers were introduced to us via blends, but it feels good to requests for more single-origin offerings from those same customers.
GoCoffeeGo: What's a perfect day at the roastery like?
Paul Bonds: Coming into the roastery early in the morning and warming up the machines. We roast on a 20 kg Mill City roaster and a 12 kg U.S. Roaster and we like to let them warm up for about 45 min before our first roast. Mid-production, we like to take a break and set up a cupping. After that's complete, we finish roasting for the day, perform basic maintenance and get prepped for the next day.
GoCoffeeGo: What are your favorite coffees right now? What did you drink this morning?
Paul Bonds: I am really enjoying our El Salvador Luis Hernandez. It's super sweet and balanced. We've been bringing in more offerings from this origin for the past couple years because they've impressed us so much.
GoCoffeeGo: What are some of the exciting things BeanFruit is doing in 2020?
Paul Bonds: We are looking to expand our training in-house and offerings. We would like to add more microlot offerings from multiple origins such as rare offerings from Yemen. We've been keeping our eyes on some limited gesha lots and some unique process lots to add to our lineup. We are also developing a second espresso and another seasonal dark roast offering.
GoCoffeeGo: What kind of music do you play in the roastery?
Paul Bonds: We play a little bit of everything. It really depends on what we are feeling.
Blues, Soul, Rock, even Country Music.
Our co-roaster Ahmed is in a heavy metal band called Void. It's not uncommon to hear Johnnie Taylor, Bon Jovi or even Dolly Parton playing in our roastery.
GoCoffeeGo: What's your guilty pleasure with a cup of coffee?
Paul Bonds: Nothing beats shortbread with coffee. One of my favorites is a Madeline with a cup of coffee or espresso.
GoCoffeeGo: Yum!
GoCoffeeGo: What's your greatest achievement to date?
Paul Bonds: We won a Good Food Award in 2015 for our Ethiopia Chelelektu and a Good Food Award in 2017 for our Ethiopia Adame Gorbota. After winning those awards, it made us feel like we were really on to something in our state.
GoCoffeeGo: Happiness is ....
Paul Bonds: Loving people and being loved.
