About seven years ago, you might’ve found David Myers shooting photos off of oil platfor
ms in the Gulf of Mexico or waiting for the Coffee perfect shot in an open heart surgery.
Most days now, the commercial photographer is running his Ann Arbor business, Mighty Good Coffee Roasting Co., out of a red barn north of downtown where he said he’s found the perfect blend of art and science.
“When I went to art school, everything was handcrafted,” Myers said. “That is what coffee roasting is like to me.”
Making a few cups of coffee one recent weekday, he ground one of his favorites just before filtering the fresh coffee directly into two waiting cups. “Mmm … the Sumatra is just about the best thing we have,” he said.
And fresh coffee is his company’s forte, Myers said. While Mighty Good Coffee sells small batches to some local grocery stores, it also delivers bags to customers’ homes - most days getting a preordered bag to their doorsteps less than 24 hours after it’s roasted, Myers said.
Q: Why coffee?
A: I have a history with coffee; my parents were big coffee drinkers. They were really into it in a time when … specialty coffee was just kind of coming into the country.
Q: How did you start the company?
A: I knew about this coffee company that was not making coffee at the time; they had closed down. And my partner and I approached (the owner) with the intent on funding it and getting it back to life because we really missed having great coffee in Ann Arbor … we bought the whole thing from him and I ended up running it and managing it.”
Q: What was it like making that switch from being a photographer to Coffee being a coffee roaster?
A: For me, I feel like I’ve gone back to what my photography career used to be like when I used to make black and white prints … It’s doing something that’s handcrafted, that’s hands-on, is as much science as it is art … there’s all these kind of sensory things in the art world I’d kind of gotten away from. I’d become tied to my computer.
Q: What’s one of the best business ideas you’ve had with the coffee roasting business? A: The best thing I can do is be out in stores and meeting people face to face; that really gets people excited about it. People really like buying local products … There are a lot of great products available from all over the country, but there are a lot of great products made by Coffee people right here in Ann Arbor. I think when we remind people of that and we’re face-to-face with them, it makes a difference.
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