Youth Coffee Business Owners get a Grant
Posted on: 2015-03-26 12:00 AM BEAN WISE Coffee is a youth owned business operated by school aged entrepreneurs, Justice & Maximum Leman. With their company mission of Education-Responsibility-Stewardship, the Leman brothers sold their first pound of coffee at the ages of eight and ten years old. Justice recalls, “One day I asked my mom for $10. She looked at me and figured without any income of our own, my brother and I would continue to ask for spending money. Don’t get me wrong, we would get money every month like an allowance, but we didn’t have a way to increase that amount. I wanted a specific toy, and I was $10 short.” When asked, why coffee, Justice quickly replied, “It’s a popular product that almost everybody drinks; it’s also addictive and highly consumable.”
In May 2013, operations expanded and BEAN WISE Coffee launched into their first retail storefront location in the gift shop of Albergo Allegria Bed & Breakfast Hotel, 43 State Route 296 Windham, NY. In addition to offering exceptional local Hudson Valley roasted coffee beans, BEAN WISE Coffee also increased their product line to include a South American Arabica coffee roasted with the Pinon tree nut grown in the high altitude’s of New Mexico, and hand-crafted Artisan teas, gourmet jelly beans, and the most delicious chocolate covered espresso beans ever tasted!
February 2015, operations expand once again and to a whole new level! The young entrepreneurs, now ages 11 and 13, met with directors of the Hunter Foundation, Inc. who were actively looking for a purchaser of their no longer needed Diedrich IR Series coffee roaster. In what resembled an episode of the popular television show Shark Tank, Justice and Maximum presented their BEAN WISE Coffee business plan to the gracious executives in hopes to procure the roaster and mature their business. The boys offered a substantial portion of their private savings, and their offer was accepted. The Hunter Foundation, Inc. strategically partnered with BEAN WISE Coffee with a generous grant helping the young entrepreneurs make up the difference in the ceramic infrared roaster’s list price amount.
The next step for the Greene County, NY coffee company is to advance in education; the boys greatly desire to attend a three day intensive roasting seminar offered by Diedrich Manufacturing, Inc. in Ponderay, Idaho. There they will learn the lifecycle of coffee from seedling, to the processing, to the basics of roasting and most importantly through profile roasting from the leading industry leader himself, Stephen Diedrich. In order to make the 2,600 mile journey, the boys have begun setting aside their savings and hope to find others who may be interested in investing in the vision.
