When the concept of The Avenue came to fruition, the idea was to roast coffee on site and serve up all the the tasty beverages we do now. That was a BIG idea and right-away, we realized we weren’t ready for it. Quality has always been top priority alongside service. We still had a lot of learning to do and quickly abandoned the idea.  That is until now!

Coffee roasting is no easy task and we felt that we needed the idea of a roaster to fit every aspect of what The Avenue stands for to us and our community. It wasn’t until about a year ago, that we received a promotional email from Bellwether Coffee. Bellwether had recently won the Best New Product of 2019 by the S.C.A. (Specialty Coffee Association) with their zero emission, compactly designed, all electric roaster. Like most promo emails, we took a glance, thought it was a really cool concept and moved on. 

Three months later, the idea of roasting coffee really took hold. Remembering that email, we searched our inbox to dive into what Bellwether Coffee was all about and haven’t looked back since. While this roaster might be extremely different than a traditional gas roaster, we felt that Bellwether hit a home-run for many reasons. 

1. ZERO EMISSIONS - The environment is extremely important. Emissions and the damage it can cause could one day directly effect the growth of coffee in the regions showcased today. We at The Avenue believe in doing our part in reducing waste and protecting the world we live in. 

2. DIRECT SUPPORT OF FAIR MARKET PRICE - Bellwether directly sources and brokers the coffee we will roast, giving us specific links to the source and process of our coffee. Bellwether also insures that all coffee is purchased at or above a fair market price, providing families in coffee growing regions the ability to earn a good living. 

3. BUILDING A BRAND - The Avenue was always a concept, one that’s purpose was to provide an “avenue” for our community to come together. We also started with the vision to see Historic Port Neches Avenue flourish once again. Our Bellwether roaster will provide us a unique opportunity to bring the concept of The Avenue outside the doors of our location and into your home in hopes of providing a positive start to every day. 

4. QUALITY - From the start we said we wanted to control as many variables as possible when it came to providing a quality, consistent product to everyone that comes through the door. Having the ability to roast our own coffee will now give us the ability to dial in a level of freshness with our coffee we have never seen. 

5. TEAM BUILDING - Lastly, we wanted to give our team something to be proud of.  More than just the food or beverages we create and serve daily. We wanted to give them new challenges and skills so that we remain stimulated in our every day steps at work. This is the final piece to really seeing our team experience the ultimate satisfaction of a customer enjoying a coffee in which we controlled almost all aspects. 

So please follow our implementation progress here and on any social media platform you find us on. We are excited to get our coffee dialed in and on the shelf for you in the coming weeks, but please be patient as we work towards crafting flavors we are confident in. 

Thanks for your continued support and much love,

Your Friends at The Avenue!