The Rural We: Nick Benson
Nick Benson is a self described coffee addict, but he’s put that addiction to good use as the owner and sole employee of Zero Prophet Coffee in Washington, Conn. A diplomat’s kid, he spent a lot of time in Europe and around better quality coffees than what the United States used to have. “I was always disgusted by the poor quality coffee that people used to drink,” he says. Now he is the roaster of his own domain while continuing (in normal times) to teach English at The Gunnery. Fluent in Italian, he’s also a poet and a translator of poetry from Italian.
For a long time, I was curious about where coffee came from and who did the roasting. The inspiration for my business came during a faculty meeting. It was boring, and I started doodling a guy’s face with his eyes bugging out in need of coffee. I wrote down “Zero Profit Coffee,” because it would be okay to make it a non profitable businesses. My motivation would be just to satisfy people and their need/love for coffee.
I’d already been roasting my own beans, first using a popcorn popper. People who learn from scratch recommend learn that way, which is okay if you’re doing a small amount. When you want to do more than that, it’s time to graduate, so I got a one-pound home roaster. After I used that to the utmost, I started to get demand for my coffee and began selling to friends and people around here. It was time to get a bigger unit. I went to a five-pound propane model, and five years ago got a 10-pound roaster. I made a real business 11 years ago because I wanted to sell it in local stores. I roast the beans in a barn I converted on our property.
The beans are trucked in from a coffee important company in New York. I do a lot of blending. It’s fun — I take beans with different personalities and qualities, roast them differently, and get a nice balanced cup.
Designing, roasting and tasting coffee is what I love to do. I have a rotating cast of favorite beans. Right now I’m selling the coffee locally, at The Smithy, New Morning, Washington Food Market and some restaurants in the area. I’m applying now for organic certification, and I’d like to target natural food stores and coops.
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