For Dan Mendum coffee is more than a beverage.

He’s traveled to exotic parts of the world to see how beans are grown first-hand and now roasts his own blends at his March Point business Coyote Coffee Roasters.

And Mendum is willing to share his trade with anyone who is interested.

“It’s kind of like wine or beer. Everybody consumes this, but not a lot of people know where it comes from,” he said. “I can do 500 different flavors off one bean depending on how I roast it.”

He hosts roasting classes at 1 p.m. every Saturday when customers can learn how to roast their own coffee. Cost is $25 per person and you get to take home the pound of coffee you roast.

Mendum talks about where he gets the beans, the processing involved before he gets them and how roasting works before letting customers loose.

“You actually get to run the gauges and machine and the other takes notes and samples during the process,” he said.

Mendum, a life-long Pacific Northwest resident, was on a family vacation in Hawaii sampling the wares of the local barista when he had an epiphany — he would become a gourmet coffee roaster.

After returning home, Mendum attended the Diedrich roasting school to learn the basics of the roasting trade. Coffee Roasters at March Point in September. It’s next door to Coyote Coffee House, a separate business with new owners that serves Mendum’s roasts.

Mendum has owned and run Northwest Colors in Anacortes for 20 years and continues to operate the painting business.

“I wanted something I could do that would be different than construction,” he said. “The coffee is something we’re trying to build up where we can make a living doing it.”

To truly understand the subtle difference of coffee beans, Mendum travels the world to see how coffee is grown first-hand and experience the qualities and character of each crop.

While in Africa last fall, Mendum met with 17 different coffee bean farmers. In Katali, a small village in Kenya, and farms in Zambia, he was impressed with how they grew, harvested, dried and packed their beans.

“We went to coffee farms through the jungle,” he said.

He was equally impressed by the hard-working people in the village.

Mendum is working on an arrangement to buy directly from the village farmers to bring the coffee to his customers. Coyote Coffee is planning to contribute a portion of profits from the bean to help with health care and education at the orphanage in Katali.

“The goal is to give back,” Mendum said. “I would like to directly affect the area that we’re getting the coffee from. We would like to put money back into those neighborhoods and those kids from areas we’re sourcing our coffee.”

Today Coyote Coffee offers a variety of organic roasts from Ethiopia, Columbia, Hawaii, Brazil and Mexico as well as their popular Market Street Roast that is a blend of fine Arabica beans.

Coyote Coffee is available in Skagit Valley grocery stores, including The Market at Anacortes, at the Anacortes Farmers Market and at the Coyote Coffee House. Visit http://www.CoyoteCoffeeRoasters.com.

New coffee house owners
Dave and Sharon Crumbo bought Coyote Coffee House Friday and already have big plans for the business at 8152 S. March Point Road. Along with serving up drinks and food, they set up their company to operate as a not for profit organization to raise money for orphans in Africa.

“We’re social entrepreneurs,” Dave Crumbo said. “We’re trying to build community out there as well as provide for these kids. Those are our two goals.”

Crumbo used to be a partner in Alaska Ocean Seafood, which was sold last year. After enjoying some time in retirement, he decided to buy the coffee house. Previous owners were Kevin and Ronda Bradshaw.

“We’re going to keep everything pretty much the same as it was,” he said.

It offers coffee, of course, along with muffins, bagels, scones, biscotti and breakfast burritos. By the end of the summer they plan to expand the space.

The Crumbos set up Orphan Aid, the organization that actually owns the coffee house. They aren’t taking salaries from the business and plan to use the profits to support orphans in Africa.

“A lot of the coffee comes from Africa, so this can go back,” he said. “We just felt like we had to do something.”

Hours are 5 a.m. to 6:30 p.m. Monday-Friday and 6 a.m. to 5:30 p.m. Saturday.