This post was contributed by a community member. The views expressed here are the author's own.

Community Corner

The Evolution of Beanetics

Learn the secret to the Annandale coffee shop's popularity

What started out as a hobby for owners and husband and wife duo Amy and David Starr has evolved into a successful neighborhood business. Since opening in 2007, Beanetics Coffee Roasters in Annandale has become a favorite place among residents and people from neighboring towns to come and get their coffee fix.

According to David, the couple started having a hard time keeping up with the coffee demands from their friends and family for the one kilo of coffee they made with their coffee grinder in their home. Shortly after the two began learning more about coffee and attended several coffee tradeshows, they decided to start a coffee business. The couple chose Annandale as the location for Beanetics because of how diverse the community is.

"One reason we are popular is because we have a huge variety of excellent coffees," said associate Jon Bhatty about the store's success. "Everyone can find something to like."

Find out what's happening in Annandalewith free, real-time updates from Patch.

The coffee shop features offers over 40 different types of coffees and always has five different types of coffees brewed every day. Customers can bring in their personal cups from home and purchase coffee at the price of a refill. The price of a cup of coffee rises incrementally according to cup size.

Tasting cups are also available to anyone looking to try something new. Bhatty said the store has also been known to persuade some coffee drinkers to change their usual preferences. "The quality of the beans are so good; you might think you like bold coffee, but then you try a mild coffee and it might blow you away", he said. Some of the store's featured signature blends include the Atomic Espresso, the Neanderthal Blend, the Cro Magnon Blend and the Wooly Mammoth Blend. Customers can read the story behind the blend on the back of each bag.

Find out what's happening in Annandalewith free, real-time updates from Patch.

New resident and Beanetics customer Amy Mackinnon is a new resident, but said she's already found a coffee shop that she loves. "I really like the coffee. It doesn't have that bitter after taste," said Mackinnon.

Neil McConnell is a Beanetics regular who said spending time at the shop has become part of his daily ritual. McConnell said he visits Beanetics practically every morning to read the paper with a cup of coffee because he loves the variety and fact that staff is very knowledgeable about the coffee.

The amount of care and attention paid to details from the coffee bean to customer preferences is like a science, according to Bhatty. Adding to the illusion, Beanetics associates dress in white lab coats emblazoned with the store's logo.

The store's logo, according to Starr, came about after learning somewhere that there were only as few as three chromosomes or so that differentiated the human being from the coffee bean. Starr said he and Amy were inspired to name the company "Beanetics," a play off of the word genetics. Influenced by the idea of the atom and its Greek meaning of something that cannot be divided any further, they developed the logo Beanetics customers and Annandale residents are familiar with: an atom with a coffee bean in the middle.

Visitors to the shop can choose either coffee or tea from the store's menu, sit inside and enjoy the featured artwork on the walls of the shop by local artists or enjoy their beverage at a table outside. In addition to selling their coffee on their website, Beanetics has started to supply restaurants and institutions with their coffee. Thanks to the high grade, reusable packaging used by the store, which includes a one-way valve to let out carbon dioxide and preventing oxygen from entering, Beanetics coffee can stay fresh for many months as long as it's kept airtight.

When creating unique profiles for their beans, the store takes into account the country of origin of a bean, the soil in which it was grown, its size, hardness, and water content. Beanetics uses both convection and conductive heat for roasting. Due to limited shelving space, coffee flavors on the shelves are rotated; coffee packages are removed from the shelves after three weeks. All extra coffee is given to a local food bank.

Beanetics will celebrate its fourth anniversary in February 2011.

We’ve removed the ability to reply as we work to make improvements. Learn more here

The views expressed in this post are the author's own. Want to post on Patch?