Mountain Grounds Coffee Roaster Opens at Reading Leaves Bookstore
Author: mt43news staff reporter
Mountain Grounds Coffee Roaster Opens at Reading Leaves Bookstore
MT43 News Staff Reporter
The Nook Coffee Shop, located in the Reading Leaves Bookstore on Broadway, has changed hands. Toston resident John Cassidy has transformed the shop into a coffee roasting and treat shop.
“I am encouraging regular coffee drinkers to learn to roast their own coffee,” he explained, “so they learn what high-quality coffee really tastes like.”
Cassidy, a high-energy guy, was busy Saturday morning at his grand opening, showing his helpers, his son Isaiah, and a friend, Keaton, how to brew lattes and roast coffee beans. Giving instructions like a drill sergeant, he walked the young recruits through how to run the roaster. “Roasting coffee works like a pressure cooker,” he said, “the machine gets so hot the beans begin to crack like popcorn popping. This is called the ‘first crack’. You must listen for the first crack, then turn off the machine. Otherwise, the beans begin to burn.”
A man of many interests, Cassidy is originally from Helena, where he attended Broadwater Elementary School and graduated from Capitol High School. He attended Montana Christian Bible College, where he became a minister and taught at Helena Christian School for a time. He also runs a construction company with a partner. An employee of Wayne Miller Coins for six years, he eventually ran the homeless shelter, God’s Love in Helena, for a time. His passion for coffee fits in with his desire to serve less fortunate people. “I want to be a part of seeing social justice, seeing coffee farmers get a fair price for their labor and changing the way people treat our environment, so we push humanity in a positive direction,” he pointed out.
His real love of coffee roasting has taken him worldwide to Australia, Europe and South America, where he sought out high-quality coffee beans. When he moved his family to San Francisco, coffee roasting began to intrigue him. He entered coffee roasting competitions, including the World Coffee Competition in Hawaii three years ago, where he placed 18th in the best coffee roasting.
Mountain Grounds Coffee Roaster Company began in 2010 when Cassidy opened a shop near San Francisco at the Port of Oakland. He works with coffee bean farmers, has partners, and trains employees in seven shops, three of which are overseas. As an expert in coffee, he feels coffee is in its infancy as a beverage in the United States. “The world of wine in the United States has matured – we have sommeliers, imported wines, wine tastings and grape growers who raise the highest quality grapes in the U.S. Since coffee is not grown here, its start as a high-quality beverage has been slow to take off here,” he said.
Mountain Coffee Roasters sources coffee from Colombia, Africa and Costa Rica, but 80 percent comes from Brazil because of that country’s huge coffee bean market. Cassidy admitted the current situation with high tariffs are really hitting his purchasing power: “Tariffs are killing us. We pay probably 5 or 6 times more for coffee beans now,” he concluded.
Mountain Grounds Coffee Roaster is open from 7:00 a.m. to 4:30 p.m. weekdays and 8:00 a.m. to 5:00 p.m. weekends. For more information, call John Cassidy at (406) 459-9206.
Article Images
Click on Image Thumbnail(s) to view fullsize image
PhotoCredit: MT43 News Photo
Image 1 Caption: Owner John Cassidy shows Bob Ronan of Helena the ropes of roasting coffee. Bob was the shop's first coffee roasting customer.
MT43 News Photo
