In The Beginning

Welcome to Caffeine Junkee, a blog about all things java and our adventure on the road to opening a coffee shop.  Written from several different perspectives, you'll get one family's varied viewpoints... so it should be entertaining as well as enlightening.


Why are we doing this?


Well, grab yourself a cup of coffee (if you dont already have one), sit back down and I'll tell you.


Rewind fifteen years into the past.  Melinda and I actually met in a coffee shop where she was a barista. Several years before the birth of our first child, we decided to dive deeper into the world of coffee.  The interest was so strong that we actually attended a coffee conference in Denver in 1998. The following year, while living in SE Michigan, we heard of a coffee kiosk business for sale in Northern Michigan. We checked it out, put together a business plan, and moved to Harbor Springs.  Just like that, we were in the coffee business.

The Milky Way

Melindas artistry

During the summer months, we were set up at the foot of the dock at the marina, while the winter found us inside the lodge at Nubs Nob. Within a year or so, we had rented a tiny building set off of Main Street and opened a shop. Granted, we could only seat about 6, but it was an actual little coffee shop of our own. I had huge plans of expanding, going into roasting and eventually moving into the coffee importing side of the business. It could have been WONDERFUL (and it was) had I not had such poor business sense. Between making just enough money to squeak out our bills,  and my father continually asking to move back to the Detroit area to help him run his business, we finally folded.  Sadly, we sold our house, closed up the shop and moved the kiosk into storage, to be sold a short time later.


Thus began my "career" at the chemical plant. I had gone from  slinging coffee at our kiosk by the water... to the black hole I call my job, in an office with bars and a steel grate on the windows.  It's exactly like prison, except at the end of the day I get to go home... And I have served nine years of what was destined to be a life sentence.

Fast forward to February 3, 2012.






We sat down as a family unit to watch an episode of How Stuff Works. This particular episode was on coffee, (check it out here) and the more I watched, the heavier my heart felt. Something happened. A spark ignited and the following day was filled with conversations about coffee and our previous business. The wheels were set in motion and within 48 hours of watching that show, we ordered a home roaster...











My share of this blog will most likely be about the things that are happening, what we are learning, and generally what progress we are making towards opening our little dream shop. Stay tuned...