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Cheryl Fry and Marcia Harward might be crazy, but there are some chances they just won’t take.
That’s why they rely on sophisticated technology, rather than their impressionable noses, to roast their coffee beans to earthy perfection, every time. They believe the process is both an art and a science.
Fry and Harward own Crazy Sisters Coffee Co. and Crazy Sisters Coffee Roasters – and yes, they really are sisters who grew up here and graduated from Homestead High School.
They are one of several coffee roasters in town.
Crazy Sisters has a retail outlet for their specialty-grade, Arabica bean brews at Lutheran Hospital, while some of their wholesale customers include Firefly Coffee House and Park Place on Main.
A former nurse, Fry started the retail business in 2000, when she wanted to escape the grind of the health care system, with its mandatory overtime.
Harward, a former English as a Second Language teacher, bought in to the companies in 2002. Her husband, Jim Harward, is the roastmaster. (He also suggested the company name.)
In 2005, they added a second, wholesale business, Crazy Sisters Coffee Roasters. In addition to roasting coffee, they also are a distributor for Rancilio, which makes Italian espresso machines.
In their nondescript warehouse/office on Main Street, burlap bags of “green” beans fill one corner of the roasting room, while shelves hold bottled flavor syrups and other supplies.
The secret to their success is their computer-driven roaster, which “takes the human trial and error out of it,” Fry says.
It keeps the beans cooking at the right temperature throughout the process, up to 475 degrees at times, and makes necessary adjustments, such as accounting for the humidity. It follows a programmed “roast profile” that changes depending on the bean. The roaster is like a cross between a grill and a dryer, as it tumbles the beans around over a flame.
The computer program was an investment – it costs more than the roaster – but the payoff is that “there are no surprises in a bag of our coffee,” Harward says. “That is what sets us apart.”
Crazy Sisters (www.crazysisterscoffee.com) recently earned organic certification.
Both women serve as tasters, or in coffee lingo, cuppers. They’re the ones who sniff, slurp and taste random cups of brewed coffee to make sure it’s up to their standards after Jim Harward finishes the roasting.
They also take turns selling coffee at Lutheran, where they are known as “the mood elevators.”
The company motto is “Impacting humankind by cultivating relationships one cup at a time.”
They buy their beans from around the world and ultimately want to establish direct relationships with some of the growers.
Crazy Sisters roasts their beans to order (they did 1 ton of beans in May alone). Because coffee has a fairly short shelf life, customers are advised to brew it all within 10 days. The top seller is Samba Jamba, a medium-dark Brazilian blend with Indonesian accents.
Fry first tasted coffee at 6 months of age and had her best brew while visiting Europe as a college student, which made her determined to find something that good in the U.S. Harward discovered “awesome” coffee while living in India in her late 20s, but now only drinks decaf because she is sensitive to caffeine.
When the Crazy Sisters pose for a photo, they are more than willing to give each other bunny ears and ham it up. But seriously, they take great pride in their coffee’s quality and consistency, they say, and their company’s customer service.
This year, they were asked to sell their brew at a National Restaurant Association trade show.
“The Italian guys that make espresso machines think we’re doing something right,” Jim Harward says with a grin.
“Coffee roasting is a science; there are many variables. It’s challenging, it’s fun. It makes people happy,” Marcia Harward says.
“We make people more productive at work.”
sscarlett@jg.net
