Earth Fare sells one-pound bags of coffee from Moon Beans.

Tag : coffee
Nine years ago, Chris Allewelt  couldn't find the quality of coffee that shewanted to serve in her cafe, so the owner of New Moon Cafe in Aikenand downtown Augusta took classes in Philadelphia and startedroasting her own coffee beans.
The bumper sticker on her car shows her passion. It reads: "Life'stoo short to drink irresponsible coffee."
"It's not glamorous work, but it's fulfilling and very satisfying,"Ms. Allewelt said.
Moon Beans roasts about 35 blends and has many local clients,including Earth Fare, The Bee's Knees, Metro A Coffeehouse, CoffeeBreak Cafe and What's Cooking in Aiken.
Ms. Allewelt also has mail-order customers in the eastern UnitedStates.
She works closely with coffee brokers in New York and Bellingham,Wash., that navigate the commodities market on her behalf.
"They're good contacts for finding good, specialty grades ofcoffee," Ms. Allewelt said.
She orders her beans in 150-pound bags and roasts them in 10-poundbatches. She prefers to roast her own coffee because it provides afresher product.
All of her beans are the product of sustainable farming, a naturalfarming method that doesn't exhaust resources.
Her business is the first Fair Trade Certified Roaster in SouthCarolina. She purchases much of her coffee from the fair-trademarket, which allows farmers to operate in a co-op and ensures theywill receive a fair price.
In the conventional market, farmers often sell their beans for lessthan it costs to grow them, explained Joseph Holbrook, thewholesale representative at Moon Beans.
"There's this cycle of poverty that they just can't get out of,"Ms. Allewelt said.
Earth Fare, which supports fair trade, sells one-pound bags ofcoffee from Moon Beans.
"We started carrying everything they have, and it's flying off theshelves," said Bridget Cooper, an associate in the specialtydepartment at Earth Fare.
Ms. Allewelt considers coffee roasting to be an artisan trade. Ittakes about 30 to 45 days to train a roaster at her shop. Manybusinesses use a computerized roaster, but she prefers to use anold-fashioned gas-jet drum, which requires monitoring the beans bysight and sound.
Moon Beans sells coffee from Brazil, Kenya, Columbia, Papua NewGuinea, India and many other countries.
Reach LaTina Emerson at (706) 823-3227 orlatina.emerson@augustachronicle.com.
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