Construction crews currently can be seen working on two houses at the four corners of Nelson that, when completed, promise to forever alter the food and beverage landscape in the Nelson-Cazenovia area. While a restaurant, nanobrewery and cigar shop are currently in the works to be created inside the two buildings — officially to be called Nelson Corners — a coffee roaster business is now up and running, selling coffee online and preparing for a storefront grand opening event on Oct. 3.
Peaks Coffee Co., located at 3258 Route 20 East and owned by Sam Bender and Kelsey Ball, will sell coffee, espresso, lattes, cappuccinos and teas by the cup, as well as bags of coffee that is roasted (and ground, if requested) on the premises.
“We are a specialty coffee roaster with a focus on high cup-quality coffee,” Bender said. “Coffee has 2,000 possible flavors. My job as the roaster is to find the coffee and bring out its best.”
Bender, 22, of Chittenango, and Ball, 20, of East Syracuse, both previously worked in the coffee business at Starbucks and Café Kubal. “In the back of my head I always wanted to have my own shop,” Ball said. Two weeks after she mentioned her idea, Bender told her he had started roasting coffee. “We like to say that I had the idea and he kick-started it,” Ball said.
That was in December 2014. By June of this year, Bender and Ball heard about the former Tree of Life Organic Coffee company that made a brief run inside the 200-year-old Federal-style building at 3258 Route 20 East but closed in the spring — and the space was renovated, it already contained a ventilation system necessary for roasting and the owner left the coffee roasting machine there as well. By July, Bender and Ball had signed a lease and began setting up their new business.
“It was really quick, but it was all just so perfect we had to go for it,” Ball said.
Peaks Coffee Co. will typically have multiple single-origin coffee available (meaning it comes straight from the farm with no middle-man involved), and both naturally processed and washed coffee available (the different processes give the coffee beans different flavors), Bender said. Currently they have coffees from Brazil, Ethiopia and Columbia, but they are always tasting coffee from new farms and new locations, always “switching it out,” looking to keep their offerings new and fresh, Ball said.
For now, Peaks Coffee Co. is a part-time passion for Ball and Bender, both of whom have full-time responsibilities: Ball works full time as a chef at a daycare center and Bender is a student nurse. They come together every Wednesday to roast coffee to fill their online orders and, starting with their grand opening on Saturday, Oct. 3, the storefront will be open every Saturday where customers can not only purchase bags of coffee, but also buy cups of coffee, sit and drink and enjoy life, Ball said. There will be free Wi-Fi service at Peaks, and they are planning to tailor their hours to be open on nights of concerts at The Nelson Odeon, and during finals week for area high school and college students. They are also considering offering student discounts for those with student identification.
“We want to make this a place where people can come and hang out,” Ball said.
In addition to being near The Nelson Odeon and midway between the colleges in Cazenovia and Morrisville, Bender and Ball said they are thrilled to be a part of the new Nelson Corners project, being created by local resident and entrepreneur Nancy Demyttenaere, that will eventually offer a restaurant, nanobrewery and cigar shop along with Peaks Coffee Co.
“This will be a really cool little community here, and we’re very excited to be a part of it,” Ball said.
Eventually, Bender and Ball said they hope their business will grow to include open shop hours on Sundays and, ultimately, every day. In the future they plan to also participate in local community organizations and events such as the Cazenovia Farmers Market and the Taste of Cazenovia.
For more information about Peaks Coffee Co., or to order coffee, visit peakscoffeeco.com or call 440-8891.
