MB Coffee Seller Hopes To Change Future Of Coffee Industry

MANHATTAN BEACH, CA —John Cline admits he's a coffee addict. "I've been making my own coffee for myself and friends for years," he told Patch. "That's how my idea to start a coffee business flourished."

Cline and his wife, Julieanne, run Skillet And Whisk, a mail-order business that sells beans from regions like Burundi and Guatemala. "When I did a deep dive into coffee sourcing, I discovered that the conditions for the farmers who pick the beans are pretty bad," Cline said. "My wife and I visited a coffee farm in Hawaii and saw they need schools, roads, better living conditions in general. I wanted to do something about it."

Cline does business with a distributor in Oakland who has relationships with farmers in villages around the world and helps bolster their local economies.

"What I do is sell the coffee for $12 a bag, far less than traditional coffee sellers, so I can get more people to try it," he said. "The more responsibly sourced coffee you drink, the less coffee will be treated as a commodity. It is my hope that coffee will be viewed as the highly specialized, laborious little berry that it is and that the farmers will be appreciated as the hard-working, deserving people that they are."

Cline says the coffee that most consumers drink, typically from Arabica beans, is stale–as old as three to four months–and often has a bitter after-taste. His coffee is made fresh daily when it's shipped out.

Cline is also introducing coffee from unique locales like Rwanda, the Island Of Timor, and Burundi. "People are used to medium roast coffees, and that depends on how high the beans are roasted," he said. "I offer light to dark roasted beans which provide unique flavors."

For example, beans from Costa Rica offer a honey and blueberry flavor; while Burundi beans taste like graham crackers and marshmallows. "It's really an experience to taste such varied flavors that you're not typically used to," he said.

At Skillet And Whisk, consumers can choose from four varieties of beans (one is decaf), either whole or ground. "The Timor coffee is medium roast; Rwanda is on the lighter side; and Burundi is dark roasted," Cline said.

In addition to global relationships, Cline is forming partnerships with local businesses. "I'm working with several businesses right now to develop flavors for their shops. My motto is 'drink global, support local.'"

For more information and to order, go to Skillet And Whisk.