DANVILLE — A new business that has been brewing online for the past five years is formally introducing its retail shop to the public on Friday.
Java Momma, which roasts, packages and ships coffees, teas, cocoa, spices and gifts, is holding a grand opening at its coffee shop at 1426 Ferry St. from 8 a.m. to 7 p.m.
The retail shop has been open for about nine months, but Melissa Shoop, who started the business with her husband, Brian, in their basement five years ago, said she put off the formal grand opening.
“I didn’t have the staff and I didn’t have time to plan it,” she said.
Instead, she has been busy growing the rest of the business in the two-floor, 25,000-square-foot space. Of that, 10,000 square feet is warehouse space.
The roasting and packing of the 150 kinds of coffee and more than 40 types of tea takes place upstairs.
In the K-Cup room, Chris Yeager filled the individual cups of specific types of coffee. A machine in the rooms can fill 12 dozen of the plastic cups at one time.
In another room, roaster Josh Lindenfeld is busy roasting coffee in one of two roasters, 9 1/2 pounds at a time. It doesn’t take long.
“About 13 minutes, depending on the roast,” Lindenfeld said.
Over in packing, Jamie Yule and Jeff Troutman packed and labeled orders to ship out.
They pack all of Java Momma’s various offerings.
“Coffees, teas, mystery boxes, mocha, mugs,” Yule said.
Shoop said she employs 25, including contractors, but not all work on site.
“Our graphic artist is in Minnesota, our web designer is in Tasmania,” Shoop said. “The operations officer is in Maryland.”
Shoop, a Berwick native, and her husband live in Mahoning Township.
“It grew out of our basement,” she said of the business.
After getting a permit, the couple roasted coffee there from 2017 to 2018. They relocated to a space on Mill Street in downtown Danville. They remained there for only 14 months before moving to the current location.
“About a year later, we bought the building,” Shoop said.
They buy coffee beans through a broker and buy different types of tea and blend them together.
“Some more complicated ones, we use a wholesaler,” she said.
“We get the spices from elsewhere,” Shoop added.
They package the spices, but sometimes that requires special protection.
“For some of the strong spices, they use eye protection and a respirator,” she said.
The business ships through FedEx, UPS and Amazon.
Though Java Momma has been roasting and shipping for five years, on Friday, the focus will be on the 768-square-foot retail space.
“The only real addition is retail,” Shoop said.
