My love for coffee started in high school. But my obsession for fresh roasted coffee did not start until my first cup of coffee from Peoria’s Thirty-Thirty Coffee Company. From there curiosity of home roasting coffee grew into a hobby. I started home roasting coffee in 2014 using air popcorn poppers and decided I wanted to try selling it at a local farmers market. Once you have a cup of coffee that was roasted only 2 days ago, it’s difficult to go back to buying coffee at the grocery store!

I soon discovered that Illinois has stringent farmers market laws. In April 2015, I started working with State Representative Tim Butler’s office to get legislation passed to allow home roasted coffee as a cottage food. We hit many road blocks. We found a pending bill (HB2486) that would allow us to add home roasted coffee as an approved item, but it was too late to make an amendment. After months of research, Butler’s office found a contact in State of Illinois Farmers Market Task Force and we finally got the right people to talk to. Everything was lining up. We were working with the director to add home roasted coffee to the list, and then she retired. It would be nearly three months before the new director would follow-up with me. But, this past March I got the green-light! I am the first in Illinois to sell home roasted coffee under the cottage food law. No need to rent an expensive commercial kitchen. I am very grateful for Butler’s office, specifically Matt Butcher, for helping me with this project. Ryan Williams with the Logan County Health Department has been helpful as well.

I will be partnering with local charities by donating 20% of his profits every month. You will be able to find my coffee starting Saturday, May 21st, at the new ALMH Market. The ALMH Market will be every Saturday from 8 a.m. to 12 p.m. through October 29th at the Logan County Fairgrounds.

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