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V O L . X X I I N O. X I I M AY 3 0 , 2 0 1 6 14 Wicked Joe's Garver loves everything about cof- fee, from the farmers he buys from through to the expert tasters, the bean roasters, the coff ee shops and their customers. e Wicked Joe website quotes a Turkish proverb that it also notes is the company's philosophy: "Coff ee should be black as hell, strong as death and sweet as love." "It's a wonderful time to be in coff ee," Garver enthuses. "Coff ee has never tasted as good as it does today because roasters and every person touching coff ee in the supply chain are focused on improving its quality." Wicked Joe employs two "Q Graders," certifi ed by the Aliso Viejo, Calif.-based trade group Coff ee Quality Institute, while Speckled Ax's Bolinder is also a Q Grader. e Q Coff ee System, explains Garver, is meant to give companies around the world a standard for rating coff ee quality both in the green beans they buy to roast and in the individual roasts at their own roasteries. Nothing regular about this coffee Bolinder of Speckled Ax started roasting in 2007 under the Matt's Wood Roasted Organic Coff ee brand. He says he changed the branding recently to Speckled Ax to better describe the process of roast- ing the coff ee. "It's a sexier name that refl ects our process more clearly," he says. Speckled Ax is one of two roasters in the state using wood to power its roaster rather than natural gas or propane. e other is UnRest Roasting Co. in Hampden. Nationwide, Bolinder estimates there are about eight wood roasters. Bolinder says wood-roasting mellows the coff ee, but does not impart a wood fl avor because smoke from the wood goes through the roaster in 13 to 14 minutes under high heat so it isn't absorbed by the beans. He says the wood roasting process does cause a loss of about 1% or so of the bean weight compared to gas roasting because more air fl ow goes through the beans. e roasting time also is a bit longer. ยป C O N T I N U E D F RO M P R E V I O U S PA G E Speckled Ax 170 John Roberts Rd., South Portland Founded: 2007 (as Matt's Wood Roasted Organic Coffee) Owner: Matt Bolinder Business: Coffee roaster, coffee shop Investment to date: $150,000 Revenue (2015 est.): $250,000-$500,000 Employees: 6 full-time and part-time Contact: www.speckledax.com / matt@speckledax.com Wicked Joe Coffee 35 Canam Drive, Topsham Founded: 2004 Owners: Bob and Carmen Garver Business: Wholesale coffee roaster Investment to date: N/A Revenue (2016 est.): $5.5-$6.5 million Employees: 22 full-time or equivalent Contact: www.wickedjoe.com / info@wickedjoe.com