How Sozo Began....

It is a funny story how this all really started. I, the roasters wife, was tired of hearing Rodney, the roaster, say he would like to learn how to roast coffee. He was asking a few questions to people about roasting but not doing anything about it. So, one weekend while I was away with a close friend (having some "me" time with out the kids and hubby) I found a coffee shop that sold "green beans" (beans not yet roasted) and bought a pound for my husband. All I knew about coffee was that he liked a bean called "sumatra" and you don't leave coffee on the "burner" because it will taste burnt. My knowledge was simple.

The story goes that I gave Rodney the bag of green beans and said "learn how to roast" and show me what you can do. He had a friend tell him to use a popcorn popper to begin. He roasted enough beans for a pot of coffee every day for about a week. He loved the coffee. He couldn't believe the difference FRESH beans could make. I wasn't sure about the commotion over the beans, but I was willing to try his coffee. I am personally a decaf drinker and wasn't drinking full cups of caffeine to get the taste he was raving over. But it did taste different. Smooth....the smell was so yummy too....

Rodney started calling companies and getting samples of other green beans to keep roasting. He ran out of what he had and went to the local store to buy some brand off the shelf. THAT WAS THE LAST TIME HE WILL EVER DO THAT!! It was not a good day for this coffee drinker of mine. The coffee was bitter and stale and well...nasty. We had bought this brand before but now that we had tasted the FRESH cup we didn't want to turn back. Rodney did get some decaf for me to try and then I was hooked too. We went to a restaurant that we had drank coffee at many times before and I told him one night on a date....that I was frustrated with him.....now I couldn't drink coffee any more except Sozo Coffee......he as glad that was it....our popcorn popper soon roasted it's last batch of beans and we were on to a bigger roaster. Our friends that had tasted Rodney's coffee were getting hooked too and the need for a bigger roaster had come.

So here we are....much more to our story, but for now the night ends here.