Coffeehouse Five has been roasting coffee in-house since 2017, but now this part of the business is much more visible.
Since the local coffee chain’s first location opened in Greenwood in 2014, the goal for owners Brian and Michelle Peters has been to offer the best cup of coffee possible and give back to the community through their “for-benefit” business model. Roasting beans in-house and offering counseling services are the ways they further those goals.
With the new Franklin roasting room, a spotlight is put on the coffee portion of those efforts.
A glass wall at the back of the dining area at the coffeehouse, 41 W. Monroe St., shows how the coffee is roasted. A common sight for customers now are staff members scooping up green coffee beans and placing them in the roaster.
The smell of roasting coffee drifts around the shop as the machine whirs.
Green beans pop up like popcorn in the airbed roaster as they lose their husks and turn different shades of brown.
This is all on a backdrop showcasing the brand name 413 Roast by Coffeehouse Five. The brand is named for Philippians 4:13, which says “I can do all things through Christ who strengthens me.”
Frequent customers have seen the roasting room and renovations to the restaurant’s kitchen and counseling office take place over time, but now the project is ready for the next stage — events.
The roasting room will debut with its first public event this Friday from 6-7 p.m. during Discover Downtown Franklin’s First Friday event for May. Those interested in a tour and learning about the roasting process are asked to RSVP on EventBrite at eventbrite.com/e/coffeehouse-five-first-friday-roasting-room-experience-tickets-883825143797.
People attending Friday’s and future events will get an up-close look at the airbed roasting process, which is different than how many other Indianapolis-area coffee shops roast their beans, Brian Peters said.
“As far as we know, we’re the only truly commercial roaster in Indiana that uses this method,” Brian Peters said.
The airbed process eliminates some of the bitterness that is introduced by drum roasting, which is the other method commonly used to commercially roast beans. The roasting machine roasts coffee more quickly and cleanly, and also removes the husk of the bean, which can be recycled. Both of these things work together to make a better-tasting coffee, Brian Peters said.
Attendees can learn things like where the coffee beans come from, how they are roasted, the difference between different roasts and what makes the 413 Roast process unique, said Amanda Buck, a co-founder of the business and the Peters’ daughter. Future events will also include tastings and pairings.
“The best way to encourage coffee drinking is to get people excited about it and educate them about it,” Buck said. “We can show them the whole process of how we roast everything in-house … and what it tastes nice with.”
Roasting in-house is both a way to reduce overhead and a way to earn extra money to give back to the community, Buck said.
“The biggest why behind everything we do is — we are a nonprofit — we call ourselves for-benefit,” Buck said. “So we use it to be able to provide that free counseling, free mental health help to the community.”
413 Roast is used not only in their three coffee shops around Johnson County, but also it can be purchased by the bag or in single-serving coffee pods. The coffee can also be wholesale purchased, with area churches and businesses, as well as a catering company currently using their beans, Buck said.
“For a lot of places, a high value is to have local stuff right? So, we want to be able to help support local by supporting local,” Buck said.
The roasting room project got a boost with a grant from the Greater Franklin Chamber of Commerce Foundation. Coffeehouse Five was one of 13 local businesses to receive a grant in the chamber’s first-ever grant cycle last year.
For more information about 413 Roast, visit coffeehousefive.com/our-coffee.
