Images by Mike Sanchez
After a month of renovations, Fifth St. Coffee Roasting Shop opened its doors on March 11th 2013. It was a frightening time for Castaneda, who now had to pay rent for the building in addition to her own bills, for a business she wasn’ t even sure would succeed. Castaneda ran the shop entirely on her own for the first three years, while also getting a coffee roasting crash course from the business’ previous roaster. Business was slow, and the hours from opening to closing were hard and stressful, but Castaneda kept the doors open.
Somewhere along the way, running Fifth St. Coffee became Castaneda’ s passion, which is undoubtedly why it’ s still open and thriving today.“ When I make a coffee for someone, I make it like it was for myself. I put a lot
Fresh whole bean coffee, roasted on site every week, is of love into it,” Castaneda said. She uses the always available at Fifth Street Coffee Roasting Co. best quality coffee beans possible, sourcing
from all over the world, so that she and her life partner, Phil, who now does most of the roasting, can achieve the best nuance of flavors in their coffee. Castaneda also bakes all the shop’ s pastries in-house to ensure her guests get a cozy, welcoming feel like visiting friends or family.
It ' s strange to think that coffee would change Castaneda’ s life as drastically as it has, and she certainly never fathomed she would love it this much. Looking back, she’ s grateful that she took the risk twelve years ago, and she plans on keeping the doors open as long as possible.“ I feel that at the end of the day it’ s just so worth it. It’ s an amazing feeling how people come, and continue to come, and enjoy my coffee and pastries. So all the hours I spend on my feet are worth it. I wouldn’ t want it any other way,” she said.
For Dan Martin, creator of J. D. Hurley Coffee Roasting Co., coffee roasting was originally supposed to be just a hobby. He was already a full-time winemaker at Martin Ranch Winery and wasn’ t looking to start another venture. Coffee was just a fun way to give back to his wife, who does most of the cooking. But when the pandemic forced the winery to shut down, he began to take it more seriously.
As Martin studied the science of coffee roasting, he quickly discovered that, not only was roasting complex, but it bore many similarities to winemaking, where flavor is determined by the amount of sugars and acids brought out in the process.“ That’ s the interest for me, the fact that I have the ability to affect the final flavors through the roasting process,” he said.
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The roaster greets you at Fifth Street Coffee Roasting Co. where the art of roasting the perfect bean is always on display.
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