In Kelly Robinson’s garage, a Frankenstein machine slowly burned coffee beans that would produce the finest cup of coffee Robinson ever tasted. Dubbed a “Frankenstein machine” by Robinson, who used to be an Apple software designer by day and amateur coffee roaster by night, this coffee roasting machine also produced the worst cup of coffee Robinson has ever tasted.
Barely gulping down that acidic brew, Robinson resolved to unlock the secrets of coffee roasting and add “artisan” to his scientific skill-set.
Now, 10 years later, Robinson owns and manages The North Star Coffee Company, supplying specialty roasted coffee beans to half a dozen cafes and restaurants in the Upper Midwest and California and through an online store.
By fall 2016, Robinson plans to open his own roasting lab in downtown Hillsdale at the corner of North and Broad Street.
Robinson sources beans from all over the world, and travels to Oakland Port, California — one of two major U.S. seaports where coffee beans are imported — several times a year to meet with his sourcing agents who have collected a variety of new brews to taste test and sell.
At the Coffee Cup Diner on Broad Street, chief cook and owner, Pai Ringenberg, can’t keep enough of North Star Coffee on the shelves,
“Our customers love his coffee. We knew that Kelly’s coffee had to stay after customers kept coming up to me asking about the new flavor,” Ringenberg said. Ringenberg switched to North Star Coffee in January following the success of the blind taste test.
Local resident Vance Rehklau asked a Coffee Cup waitress where he could buy the coffee beans responsible for his delicious cup. Rehklau and his wife have cultivated a palate for locally roasted coffee beans, a taste discovered when living in Indianapolis and Cincinnati, where the cafes they frequented sourced locally roasted coffee beans.
“We picked up on the distinct flavor, it’s a noticeable difference with the fresh grind,” Rehklau said.
Robinson’s hobby flourished for 10 years while working at Apple until Robinson visited Hillsdale College and fell in love with its mission and vision of the liberal arts.
Incited by his admiration for the College and deciding that it was time for a life change, Robinson moved to Hillsdale in July 2014.
“How do you move to a completely new area, you don’t know anyone there, and it’s a small town, usually characterized by all of the people knowing one another. How do I get over being a complete outsider?” Robinson asked himself in the midst of relocating to Hillsdale.
That’s when The North Star Coffee Company was born.
“Coffee provides you with a vehicle for community that software engineering doesn’t. It’s social; people generally like coffee and can relate to it,” Robinson said.
For Robinson, coffee’s social nature brings it in conversation with Aristotle’s “Nicomachean Ethics,” a book he read at age 17 that transformed his life.
“There are many ways to think about coffee and the Ethics. Writing software or roasting coffee, it doesn’t matter. We’re always aiming at some good. Is coffee much good? It’s good for drinking, for tasting, for sharing, for health. That’s why we make it. Devoting our lives to making and improving things disposes us toward happiness.”
Robinson’s upcoming roasting lab will provide a space for commuity, as well as the aromas of roasting coffee beans from countries like Colombia, Costa Rica, and Ethiopia.
