Today we’d like to introduce you to Laurel Kingman
Hi Laurel , can you start by introducing yourself? We’d love to learn more about how you got to where you are today?
My home roasting business started in 2023, but the journey began before that. When I met my husband, I wasn’t much of a coffee drinker. Over the years, trying new coffee shops, expanding my palate to different varieties of beans, and learning to appreciate the actual flavors that coffee beans provide, rather than relying on flavored syrups, I started to realize there was more to coffee than where I bought it.
In 2017, during late spring, my family moved to Murrieta, CA. For a few days during the moving process, we slept on air mattresses because our bedroom wasn’t set up yet. With the windows open, we enjoyed the cool air entering the house. In the mornings, the birds began chirping around 5:30 am. At that time, I just wanted the “dang canyon birds” to stop chirping so I could go back to sleep. Little did I know then, there are a couple of native species of Wrens that live in Southern California. The bird perched on a branch inspired the name Canyon Bird Coffee Roasters and its logo for the area we live in.
My husband received a small home roaster as a gift, marking the start of our home roasting journey. It was a small countertop roaster that could handle one and a half ounces at a time. Every three days, we would roast our house coffee. Upon returning from a vacation in 2023, our trusty home roaster gave us one last roast after seven years. It was time for a new coffee roaster. With its increased capacity, I saw an opportunity to share our passion for freshly roasted coffee beans with the local area.
When we ask, “How fresh are your beans?” it stems from lackluster experiences with coffee past its prime. I strive to provide my customers with quality coffee beans that are freshly roasted and at their peak. Currently, I operate with a Cottage Food license, allowing me to produce and package coffee in my home kitchen and sell directly to consumers. As my coffee knowledge expands, I look forward to sharing that knowledge with the community.
My favorite memories are the experiences along with the people I get to meet throughout this journey. I love making new connections and networking with others, I would love to collaborate with businesses in the future, and one day hope to help a coffee farm during their harvest season. That is a life experience and dream not many have, or receive the opportunity to come true!
Can you talk to us a bit about the challenges and lessons you’ve learned along the way. Looking back would you say it’s been easy or smooth in retrospect?
Some of the struggles I’ve worked through in starting my own business, have been navigating the licensing process, finding the best venue to offer my product from, and developing brand recognition. I found that once people try one of our offerings, they tend to become repeat customers. Prepping for various vendor events comes with overestimating, or more wishful thinking that coffee beans will sell, when the opposite is true. It’s not always a bad thing to have an endless supply of coffee beans for consumption at home.
Appreciate you sharing that. What should we know about Canyon Bird Coffee Roasters?
Canyon Bird Coffee Roasters is currently a cottage food licensed business that roasts and packages coffee from a home kitchen. We offer single origin coffee beans at their peak freshness after roasting. Our current offerings include beans from Guatemala, Ethiopia, Indonesia, and an organic coffee from Uganda. Canyon Bird Coffee Roasters takes pride in offering high quality to the local community by selling directly to our customers. We offer local delivery (Temecula/Murrieta area) or shipping options for our coffee beans.
As the business expands, in the future with ability to put forward freshly roasted coffee beans to local restaurants, hotels, and other venues, the customer service and care that are put into roasting is what I hope to continuously provide for all who order coffee beans from Canyon Bird Coffee Roasters.
Do you have any advice for those just starting out?
Anticipate any licensing process to take longer than you expect. You’ll have to explain your dream and vision to people who may not have the clarity to understand what you’re trying to achieve. Never let anyone talk you out of your dreams, just because they don’t share the same ideas. Don’t be afraid to try new avenues that haven’t been explored, and use your imagination. Your dreams can come true as long as you’re willing speak them into the universe, work hard for them, and enjoy the journey to get where you want to go.
Pricing:
- $5 for 3 ounce sample bags
- $15 for 10 ounce traditional bags
- $17 for 10 ounce organic bags
Contact Info:
- Website: https://Canyonbirdcoffeeroasters.com
- Instagram: @canyonbirdcoffeeroasters
- Facebook: @canyonbirdcoffeeroasters
Image Credits
Canyon Bird Coffee Roasters
