Where and What is the BOP?

They said, "You have a blue guitar,

You do not play things as they are."

The man replied, "Things as they are

Are changed upon the blue guitar."

– Wallace Stevens, The Man with the Blue Guitar

Dear BOPpers,

We have made it through the winter. With the spring comes change, and renewed potential. A month or so ago, we quietly celebrated our one-year anniversary on Pratt St. In a few weeks, we'll celebrate our two-year anniversary roasting coffee in Hartford. I am not known for my sentimentality, but I have to say: I am moved. A pandemic-baked idea to start a coffee roasting company inside a vacant office space has come to life. We have four employees who adore the work and look out for one another. We have a name that more and more people know. Ups and downs, we are in motion. the BOP has become something you can see, taste, and feel.

This month, we're taking stock of where we are and where we're going.

Things as They Are

The coffee bar at Urban Lodge - powered by the BOP

We have moved out of 95 Pratt. To keep the product and spirit of the BOP downtown for all the folks who've come to rely on us, we've teamed up with Urban Lodge. We have been working with them to set up "the BOP Coffee program" inside of their space. We shared our menu, people, and expertise, and we supply them with the coffee we roast and the chai we blend in our Parkville roastery. If you've been inside lately, you've seen how great the fit is.

Urban Lodge's coffee program is, for now, the most central, but certainly not the only place where you can experience the BOP. We supply wholesale beans to a small but mighty cadre of inspiring small businesses. Check out Chokaico, a bean to bar chocolatier in Avon who makes bonbons with our chai and uses our coffee for mochas, affogatos, and coco-cold brew. Or Cup of Joe Lounge in East Hartford, a community-oriented third space serving our Haitian, Brazilian and Ethiopian beans. Or Emrey's, the 196 Club, and more in the works. If you or anyone you know has business looking for delicious, locally roasted coffee, you know who to call.

Speaking of roasting, we're due for an update on 16 New Park, the building where our roaster resides.

First, a little history. I (Jack) purchased the building in 2019 with the intention to make an efficacious investment in the Hartford community while I was working as a teacher. Because I would live on the second floor, I qualified for an FHA loan, which was the only reason I was able to afford buying it ("afford"). The bottom floor had previously been a law office, but was in disrepair by the time I moved in. The plan was to fix it up myself and bring in some main street commercial use.

Then, shortly after I moved into the building, the world shut down. I lived on the second floor and worked remotely, and for a while I left the first floor alone. It wasn't until the city of Hartford created Hartlift, a grant program using ARPA funds to revitalize vacant storefronts, that I felt empowered to start my own business on that floor. I'd been inspired by roasters I'd seen in small towns, and the impact they could have on the vibrancy of a place. I'd been roasting coffee at home for a little over five years. So I did research, put together a business plan, set aside more of my savings for the matching funds, and applied for the loan. Now here we are.

The roastery, as seen in the reflection of that big heavy metal thing that keeps the door to the drum closed

The Blue Guitar

Many locals have noticed that there is a For Sale sign on the window of 16 New Park. The property is indeed for sale, for now. I'm in a place in my life where I'd prefer not to be a landlord, and more importantly, it's time to move the roaster.

This building was never the ideal location for a roasting operation, for three reasons. First, the space is not big enough to scale the roasting operation. Second, the residential units above make insurance a pain. Third, setting up a cafe there won't work. (For the urban planning nerds who want the full story: Because the prior use of the space was an office, the building department says that a change of use to a cafe open to the public would require making the entire ground floor ADA-compliant. That is unfortunately a prohibitively expensive undertaking in a structure built in the 1890's. I told the building official "It sucks that that's the case", to which he responded "It sucks more to be in a wheel chair." He is, of course, correct.)

So moving to a space where we can comfortably grow and bring in the public has been a strategic priority from the start. Luckily, another Parkville property owner has offered us what feels like the perfect opportunity. If we can find a buyer for our property, we can move over the equipment we already have, and take a small portion of the proceeds from the sale to get that space operational.

That's the update on 16 New Park. Stay tuned, and if you know someone who may want to invest in a mixed use property in Parkville, send 'em my way.

There's one other big, imminent move we've been working on for many months now. If you are a regular BOPper on Pratt Street, you've almost certainly heard us talk about the project we've been working on in Windsor. I can't give too big of an update just yet, but that is still very much in the works, and we hope to share what we've been working on with you all very soon...

A few months ago, I saw a large group of people involved in Hartford economic development (DDS employees, people from the chamber, from local development companies, etc.) convening in the middle of Pratt St. After they disbanded, a handful of them stopped by the shop on their way back to work. One after another, I asked them what the meeting was about, and each one of them said something to the effect of "Something Big is on the horizon. I can't say what it is yet, but it could be transformative for the city."

It was both frustrating and exciting to hear, as I know it must have been frustrating and exciting to have to say. That little group, and Hartford itself, is kind of a macrocosm of our little business. There's always some big potential on the horizon, and a constant slog to get there while we continue to do what we must to survive.

We keep working, we keep dreaming, we keep BOPpin'.

Until next time,

Jack at the BOP

Our beloved cafe manager, on television, explaining how the world works

Kaylin (left, smiling pleasantly) and Angel (right, cheesing hard) slinging liege waffles at Hartford Taste

ROUND-UP

Where to Find Us

• Urban Lodge

  • 88 Pratt St., Hartford

  • Monday 8AM-1PM

  • Tuesday-Sunday 8AM-3PM

Current Coffee Menu

We've been buying beans from these farms (in Haiti and Brazil) since we started roasting over two years ago.

• The Peixoto Family - Minas Gerais, Brazil:

  • Yellow Catucai and Mundo Novo varieties

  • Natural processed

  • Medium roast (our darkest)

  • Creamy with nutty notes of toasted pecan

• Diever Galindez - Huila, Colombia:

  • Pink Bourbon variety

  • Washed process

  • Light roast

  • Juicy, citrus-y, a little fruity, complex

• Apolo Indigenous Cooperative - Bolivia:

  • Castillo and Typica varieties

  • Washed process

  • Medium roast

  • Smooth with notes of tangerine and caramel

• Zombie Desert - Haiti:

  • Typica, Catimor and Blue Mountain varieties

  • Washed process

  • Medium roast

  • Mellow with notes of milk chocolate

    
    

Wholesale and Catering

• Don't forget we offer wholesale pricing for anyone looking to buy our chai or coffee (beans or beverages) in bulk. Drop us a line through the website, or better yet send us an email!

PS --- I am now 99% sure that the meeting on Pratt Street was about Hartford's application for funding to develop the AI Innovation Campus behind the ballpark. We've all got our fingers crossed.