A peace sign on Peter Cohen’s car helped lead him to a pretty cool job: roasting coffee. Cohen was a banker for 16 years and dabbled on the side with home roasting in his garage on a 1-pound roaster. When his boss told him that the peace sign on his car had “liberal connotations,” he left to find a bigger sign...and to quit the corporate job.
Shortly after that, Cohen ordered an 11-pound roaster, leased a shared 330-square-foot workspace in Fenton, and founded Stringbean Coffee Co. He eventually doubled the space and moved into a new location in Brentwood two years ago.
Walking into that Brentwood tasting room provides a feast for the senses. There’s coffee, of course—something for the nose—but it’s the eyes that land on memorabilia, which is everywhere. Guitars; figurines; hood ornaments; a giraffe comprised of flip flops that washed up on a shore in Kenya; a custom-made '50s diner set complete with curved red banquettes; and a table made out of a 1970 Chevy from a junkyard stand out among the collectibles.
“This is my roasting room and that’s Lola and Freddie Mercury,” Cohen said while giving me a tour. Before I caught sight of the life-size mannequins dressed as the Queen frontman and The Dancing Queen standing in one corner, I noted Cohen’s Crocs, patterned with Jolly Rogers, and his voice. Close your eyes, and you’d think you were talking to Paul Giamatti, down to the last cadence.
In the other corner, opposite the mannequins, is a 25-pound San Franciscan roaster. On one wall, framed album covers hang in rows marking music as one of the essential ingredients of Stringbean Coffee. In fact, one of the company’s taglines is “music infused coffee.”
Cohen roasts around 36,000 to 38,000 pounds of coffee a year, and music is always playing in the background. Often there’s dancing, and sometimes, the lights go down, letting the original disco ball from Soul Train that hangs in the roasting room shine its brilliance.
New packaging for the eight varieties of coffee recently debuted thanks to digital printing capability. Each bag is different: the Ethiopian bag has the St. Louis Blues blue, for example. Five of the varieties will be available on Amazon. When asked if expanding beyond his current 135 Midwest locations makes him nervous, Cohen responded, “Isn’t that a great problem?”
“Let’s make a good cup of coffee. Let’s be socially minded” are Cohen’s mantras. Devotees to the Stringbean brand—“the tribe”—can attest to the first statement. Customers love to interact with Cohen on social media and tell him what music they are listening to while drinking his coffee.
The second statement is evident in some of the framed photos on the wall. One shows an orangutan in Indonesia who benefits from one of his roasts of beans from the same area. Another roast benefits a women’s co-op in Peru, where Cohen and his wife visited last summer on their first international coffee trip.
When asked what makes his coffee different from some of the other local roasts, Cohen said that his has “a rock-and-roll vibe with a whole lot of soul.” He then said, “I can’t tell you what others are doing; I don’t care.” The statement didn’t seem arrogant or flippant. Rather, it came from someone who is happy doing what he’s doing and doesn’t perceive others as “competitors.” Claiming he’s too advanced in age to be hip, he said, “I’m just happy to be the old guy who does coffee.”
Having found his passion, Cohen is obviously happy. His coffee is happy, too. What’s a happy coffee? One that is sourced and produced ethically. For example, Cohen told a group of doctors “no” when they requested a special roast made from civet poop. Cohen refused since the cats are force-fed beans. He also refuses to do super-light and super-dark roasts; if it’s too light, the dairy “curls in it,” and if it’s too dark, “it’s burnt, and you lose the essence of coffee,” he explained.
Taking in the memorabilia, I asked Cohen if he would notice if anyone moved something, and before I could finish my sentence, he said, “Yeah.” What may initially look like clutter to some is organized chaos grouped around themes and memories. While Cohen may be anal retentive about his “toys,” he approaches tasting coffee with a refreshing lack of snobbishness that so often abounds in tasting rooms. As we sipped a roast, he said, “I’m getting some sort of something.” I asked how he comes up with the flavor profiles, and he said, “Usually we just make stuff up: ‘No Jolly Ranchers in here.’”
If you want to see Cohen in action, he hosts an open house every first Saturday of the month. This Saturday will be a holiday boutique at the roastery (858 Hanley Industrial Ct.) featuring several local artists and their wares—perfect for holiday shopping.
At the center of the boutique will be coffee of course, specifically Turkish coffee demonstrations and samples. Dottie’s Flour Shop will provide dessert samples and take orders. Also there that morning will be artist Henryk Ptasiewicz with original paintings; Greg Barth Photography with architectural photography from the area; Newberry Furniture with modern woodworks, including cutting boards, bottle openers, and clipboards, among other unique items; and Susie’s Leatherworks will be showcasing leather jewelry and keychains. Coffee-themed gifts will be available as well.
Those who donate a gently worn coat will receive two bags of coffee. The open house runs from 9 a.m.–noon.
At the end of our interview, as Cohen took stock in how well everything has turned out, he said, “Seven and a half years later, I’m really glad that banks don’t like peace signs.”
If you’ve tried his coffee, you are too.
