The Ground Floor: Specialty grade coffee retailer reaches beyond small-town base

TAMA - While living on the east coast, Brian Gumm acquired a taste for specialty grade coffee.

However, after moving back to Iowa three years ago after attending graduate school at Eastern Mennonite University in Harrisonburg, Va., he said he no longer could find the high-grade coffee he had drunk regularly.

'The coffee options at the local Fareway are not that great,” he said.

So Gumm said he bought a couple pounds of unroasted coffee beans and a $20 hot-air popcorn popper, and began roasting his own coffee in his garage

'I continued to do it for longer and longer,” he said. 'Eventually I just kind of got to the point where I said, I've got to make it legit if I'm going for it.”

Today, Gumm's garage hobby is now a business. Ross Street Roasting, a specialty grade coffee retailer based in Tama, officially became a business in April 2015.

Gumm, owner and founder, sells six different roasted coffee beans, which are a mix of single-origin coffee and blends - all of which he roasts himself in his 800-square-foot facility in Tama he moved into at the end of April.

On average, Gumm said he sells about 100 pounds of coffee a week, which he roasts on a $5,000 small commercial roaster that roasts about six pounds per batch.

Gumm said his products are approved by the Specialty Coffee Association of America. To be graded as specialty, the coffee must score 80 points or above on a 100-point scale that measures requirements such as defects and growing environment.

Gumm's specialty products originate from all over the world - including a direct-trade specialty coffee company based in Nicaragua. The rest of the beans are purchased from a specialty coffee importer in Minneapolis.

Coffee from Ross Street Roasting has been expanding outside of Tama.

'I was turning small-town people into coffee snobs pretty easily,” Gumm said.

His coffee has been sold in Brewhemia in Cedar Rapids's NewBo district since March. Another coffee shop in Algona as well as three Hy-Vee stores across the state stock Gumm's product.

Ross Street Roasting also sells a portion of its stock off the website, rossstreetroasting.com.

Gumm, who works as an online education design specialist with the Eastern Mennonite University, said he intends to keep that job until his daughter finishes college - then, he hopes to work full time expanding his company.

At a glance

- Business: Ross Street Roasting

- Owner: Brian Gumm

- Address: 202 Harmon St., Tama

- Website: www.rossstreetroasting.com

Know a business that would be ideal for 'The Ground Floor”? Contact Michael Chevy Castranova at michaelchevy.castranova@thegazette.com.