Rise Up Coffee will open a new Roastery and Cafe in Easton Monday, March 19th. After a whirlwind of renovation to the old Thompson Motors building at 618 Dover St. over the winter, the building has been re-purposed and has taken on a life and feel of its own.
The Roastery will be open 7 days a week, starting at 6am on Monday. Expect delicious freshly made pies and other treats to go with the legendary Rise Up coffees. The new business will offer both indoor and outdoor seating.
In typical Rise-Up style, where community matters as much as anything, local artists and craftsmen’s handiwork is evident throughout the building – from the handsome wood counters created by McMartin and Beggins furniture makers, to expert signage provided by Jim Richardson of Claiborne Signs and Designs, and more.
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Owner Tim Cureton couldn’t be happier. “We’re so excited to finally have a full service location, and a home to roast our own coffee” he said. With 7 years under his belt as a successful coffee entrepreneur, Cureton has a loyal following and a strong brand on the Shore. Cureton’s love for coffee began on a Peace Corps stint in the Pacific, and along with his wife Abby, he opened Rise Up and never looked back. His St. Michaels drive-through has been pouring, grinding and mixing up coffee drinks since 2005, and his Salisbury location has been going strong since 2007. With this new Roastery and Cafe, Cureton expects to be able to have new and different conversations with his customers.
“Roasting our own coffee is our main goal for this new building, but educating people about coffee is also what this place is about”, says Partner and Manager Noah Kegley, as he pours 9 pounds of Mexican beans into the shiny new roaster. “We’ve always been all about being good global citizens, and fair trade is definitely important.”
Kegley walked over to the handsome tile wall mosaic depicting a coffee plant created by local artists Sue Stockman and Bobby Malzone, and pointed to the flowers. “Not only does this mural show the gorgeous blooms of the coffee plant, but it also shows the development of the ‘cherry’ – coffee’s fruit”, which is picked one at a time, by hand. The work of the farmers and pickers means a lot to us at Rise Up – every bean counts. Each cherry, selected at the right moment in time and picked by a human hand represents the livelihood of other human beings”, says Kegley. “It matters”. He gently scoops the last few beans into the 400 degree roaster and turns it on.
Kegley’s knowledge of roasting is encyclopedic, and he patiently describes the process, showing the careful notes that he keeps on each batch, so that after taste testing, the most delicious roasts can be replicated. The temperature is noted every 2 minutes during the process, and some beans are pulled and sniffed several times throughout. Not unlike a baker’s knowledge, or a brewmaster’s senses in preparing a perfect batch, the coffee roastmaster’s sense of smell is part of his skill. “I’ve never been able to paint, or draw, or make music”, muses Kegley, “but this is my creative outlet. I could easily destroy coffee with this machine, or I could make something fantastic. I’m using all of my senses.”
He proceeds to carefully make notations on a clipboard, and talks about decaffeination, roasting processes, coffee farming and importing. “But at the end of the day, people just want a good cup of coffee. Not everybody gets as geeked up as I do about it”, Kegley smiles. And a darn good cup of coffee is indeed, what customers of Rise Up get, every single day, now in three locations on the Shore. For more information about Rise Up Coffee, see their website here. And to check out the map of locations around the globe where Rise Up has donated coffee to Peace Corps volunteers, see their blog here.
MarkmLappen says
Congrats on the new opening from one of your first customers in St. Michaels
Ken Smith says
618 Dover Road, not street.
Best of luck.
Butch says
Noah’s Mom brought my wife one of their apple
Pies. It was great! Good luck with your new location.
Butch Bell