While I’ve never been shy about my affinity for coffee, I never imagined seeing myself working in a coffee shop. Not because I wouldn’t like it, just because in the past, whenever I thought about a coffee shop, I was on the consumer side of the counter, but all of that changed on Monday afternoon when I drove out to my old South Otselic stomping grounds to work with Bill and Collette McCurry at Chenango Roasters.
The weather was frightful, and with inches of snow accumulating on the roads, I wasn’t expecting to be thrown in the middle of a busy crowd, but I was wrong. “Sometimes we’re busy on Mondays, sometimes we’re not,” Bill had told me on the phone. This looked like a busy one.
The small parking lot was full when I arrived, and after finishing up some sandwiches for a couple of customers, Bill put me right to work. I cleaned up the work area and watched as the coffee shop owner showed me how to make the giant rolls he had just pulled from the oven.
The dough had been rising for a while, and once Bill took it from the bowl and placed it on the counter, he showed me how to cut the dough into tangerine-sized pieces and weigh each one to make sure that they were consistently a quarter of a pound.
Once each roll had been cut and weighed, Collette showed me how to shape them. She was a tough critic, telling me the rolls needed to take on some semblance of a round shape, but after a while I got the hang of it, and completed one tray of rolls. It took a couple more trays before the dough was used up. The lunch rush had subsided and a few customers remained in the shop, chatting with the owners about things happening in and around the town.
I asked Bill what I should do next, and he pointed me toward the chatting customers, and explained that mingling with them was just as important as making good coffee.
We discussed local goings on, including the fact that Bill and a few other local residents are attempting to bring a local music and art festival to South Otselic this summer.
In addition to roasting coffee, making delicious baked goods and visiting with their customers, the McCurrys also display the works of various local artists in their small shop. Quilts lined the walls, a variety of locally produced cards sat next to the register and Collette’s stained glass hangs in many of the windows. The art is changed on the 15th of the month. Collette describes the art on display as an eclectic collection of local work. “It’s wonderful to see so many different artists in the area,” she said. Many of the local artists wonder when Bill or Collette’s work will be on display. Bill has an affinity for photography, and Collette enjoys many artistic talents. In the shop her designs make up each of the different labels on the products, and currently she is working on gift baskets for Christmas.
In between making sandwiches and dishing out soup and chili, the McCurrys also discussed the businesses they had operated in the past, including a deli-type restaurant located just outside of Woodstock, that catered to celebrities like David Bowie, Kate Pierson from the B52s, and members of several other bands.
Since opening nearly a year ago, business at the coffee shop has been good, and not just with the local crowd. Several area merchants, including Bohemian Moon and Solstice in Norwich, have begun selling Chenango Roasters certified fair trade coffee at their locations, and the McCurrys have been shipping their coffee to places near and far. “We sent 10 pounds of coffee to Boston today,” Collette said.
The couple prides themselves on their fresh and natural coffee. Currently, they are working toward an all organic offering, and the coffee is never more than three to five days from roasting. Recently, new selections were added to the regular coffee selections, including flavors like egg-nog, pumpkin pie spice and mistletoe kiss, which Collette explained will be a chocolate mint flavor. All the flavors are made with natural ingredients. While I didn’t get the chance to roast any coffee – that job requires a lot of concentration and is generally done after hours when all the customers have left – Bill and Collette did let me in on some of the sectrets to success.
“If you want to make a small fortune in the restaurant business, start with a large one,” Collette said with a laugh.
Chenango Roasters is located on Route 26 in South Otselic. Store hours are 7 a.m. to 3 p.m. Monday through Friday, and 7 a.m. to 2 p.m. on Saturday. To order coffee, call (315) 653-7300 or visit the web at www.chenangocoffeeroasters.com.