Blackbeard and Lanoca

Blackbeard photos by Juliette Cooke

8Greenville: Life In The East

Winter 2018

Fresh,local,simple

Coffee roasters in the east strive to provide the best

By Mackenzie TewksburyPhotos by Juliette Cooke and Molly Mathis

“ Isn’t coffee

magical?”

Mike Fox said as cream mixed with coldbrew and swirled into a creamy mixture in a cup stamped with “Blackbeard Coffee Roasters” on a rainy Thursday afternoon.

Mike, co-owner and brewer of the downtown coffee shop, made us five different drinks, all pleasing to the eye and smooth to the taste.

However, the 33-year old didn’t always believe that coffee was in fact magical. He grew up with what I would call the usual view on coffee — admittedly because that’s how I once viewed it — rarely appreciating the drink for what it is.

“Once I tried fresh-roasted coffee… having that first cup of coffee that was smooth, free of bitterness, that opened my eyes that coffee was different than I thought. It wasn’t bitter. It wasn’t heart burn-inducing,” he laughed.

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On the other hand,

Matthew Wright,

owner of Lanoca Coffee Company indowntown Ayden, had his first cup of 8o’clock black coffee with his great auntwhen he was five years old. He’s beenhooked ever since.

“I fell in love with the smell of it at thegrocery store. I just loved black coffee. Asa kid, I had to put an ice cube in it becauseI couldn’t wait for it to cool down,” he said.

While their backgrounds in coffee maydiffer in stark comparison, their goal is thesame: roasting fresh, delicious coffee fortheir communities and beyond.

Lanoca photos by Molly Mathis

10Greenville: Life In The East

Winter 2018

From Concept

to Creation

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Since 1969

REAL JEWELERS REAL SERVICE

633 Red Banks Road

Greenville, North Carolina

252-321-7000

www.RobinsonJewelers.com

Winter 2018 Greenville: Life In The East 11

Inside Lanoca Coffee Company, the idea is simple. Local, local, local. I walked past the front desk to the very back room — passing two tasting rooms decorated with wooden pallets — to find Matthew Wright pouring green coffee beans into his roaster while listening to bluegrass music from his phone. There are concert posters from R.A. Fountain on the walls. The room is modest. It’s not flashy — that’s the whole point, he tells me. He’s not in the business of making expensive lattes or exquisite espresso drinks. Just fresh, simple coffee.

He makes me a pour over with a Chemex coffee maker while we talk, inadver-

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Winter 2018

“ We’d sit and eat saltine soda crackers and drink black coffee. That’s kind of the origin story. It’s a very personal thing. I’m a very nostalgic and sentimental person and to me, coffee goes back to that.”

tently exposing his rich knowledge of coffee. It becomes apparent that this guy knows his stuff. I walked out of the interview knowing more.

Matthew, originally from Laurinburg, N.C., took me on a trip through his childhood while he makes the coffee. On Saturdays, he tells me, his parents would go to Fayetteville and he would stay with his great aunt, who lived on a dirt road in Scotland County named Lanoca Avenue (the company’s namesake). She rescued a baby squirrel and kept it as a pet — there is a framed photo of the squirrel on the wall, and now a squirrel is in the company’s logo. They would go to the store together and buy the big red 8 o’clock coffee grinders. Then they’d watch Lawrence Welk.

“We’d sit and eat saltine soda crackers and drink black coffee,” he said. “That’s kind of the origin story. It’s a very personal thing. I’m a very nostalgic and sentimental person and to me, coffee goes back to that.”

The Chemex starts to beep in the middle of this story. It’s time to try it.

I don’t drink black coffee. But I would drink this all day.

Wright runs Lanoca Coffee as his side job. It was an interest-turned business endeavor. He was gifted a popcorn popper and green coffee beans for Christmas seven years ago. He then started roasting the beans on a gas grill in his backyard.

“I made some really crappy coffee,” he said. “It’s a matter of trying to find out how this bean taste best, and how that one tastes best.”

After some experimentation, a pretty steep learning curve and extensive research, he finally pulled the trigger and bought himself a roaster, unsure of where this coffee hobby would take him.

“I can do it in my garage, but do I want to do it out of the garage?” He said.

He bought this location in downtown Ayden and shared it with a vinyl store. He just wanted the back room for his roaster, but before long, he had the whole store. The building is now used for roasting, tastings that Matthew runs himself, and private appointments. Sometimes, people unaware that it’s not a full-service coffee bar, will stumble in after a quick google search for coffee in the area. Matthew doesn’t care though. He’ll invite them in for a tasting.

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At Blackbeard Coffee Roasters in downtown Greenville, the vibe is a bit different. It’s modern — with exposed brick, white tiles and quartz countertops — but also weathered; the flooring still has the scars of what came before them. It’s charming and filled with baristas ready to serve fresh roasted coffee (that is literally roasted behind where we are all talking), espresso drinks or tea.

The idea of Blackbeard started in 2015 as a side project for Mike Fox and his business partners. His business partner, Jason, bought their first batch of green coffee beans. Fox, Jason and their other business partner Brooks split the cost of a roaster together. The beans sat idle for a few weeks, until Jason signed them up for their first event — a food truck festival downtown.

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Winter 2018

And thus, began Blackbeard’s journey.

“It went from being a home operation where we were roasting coffee and showing up at events with small bags of it, to now having a full scale roasting operation.”

Fox worked at East Carolina University; Jason worked at a church; Brooks worked at a bank. It was truly a “side hustle” transformed into a lifestyle.

“It was just kind of a hobby that creeped into becoming a business and an endeavor,” Fox said.

Fox’s now co-owner and head roaster Matt Sterling came on board in 2017, right before the downtown shop opened. A former assistant golf coach at ECU, he would help Fox out with odd jobs throughout the early years of Blackbeard. He said the idea and the brand drew him in.

“I just saw value in it,” he said.

I look around the downtown coffee shop that has only been open for just over a year. It’s almost 4 p.m. on a Thursday in the midst of Hurricane Michael, but every single table is full. The lyrics of The Avett Brothers’ “Ain’t No Man” play through the speakers. Baristas laugh with each other in the background. It’s lighthearted and easygoing. There is attention to detail.

It’s all part of the Blackbeard way. Along with, of course, doing their absolute best and going the extra mile.

“If you’re drinking a cup of Blackbeard coffee, it’s going to be the best we could’ve done.”

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