Meet the Owner
Robbie Roberts has been in the coffee business for 20 years now. He opened his first shop on Hillsborough Street in Raleigh and has been living a highly caffeinated life ever since. We managed to hold him down long enough to get him to answer a few questions.
When did you finally realize you were a coffee man, business-wise?
Two answers. When I committed to a separate roastery and a significantly larger roaster, that was a “hard” commitment. But when I began to be able to imagine blends, that ended up tasting a lot like I expected them to, I knew I wasn’t going anywhere soon.
What’s the history of your coffee-drinking experience?
You mean today? Actually, the coffee business and my appreciation of coffee grew up together. I’ve learned by doing — but my passion for what’s in the cup has always surpassed any of the other attributes I’ve had to develop to get into or stay in business. The world of coffee is interesting enough to fuel the rest of it.
Do you remember your first taste of coffee?
My great aunt, my grandmother’s twin sister, used to take care of me while my mother worked when I was a baby. She loved to tell stories about me saying “More cau-kee, please. More cau-kee, please.” And I can certainly remember the taste of really sweet, milky coffee. Professionally, the first time I went to Italy, I walked up to the first coffee bar I could find at the Milan airport and ordered an espresso. I knew within a minute that we were on the right track with what we were doing here.
What is the perfect day for you?
A full Scottish breakfast (bacon, eggs, toast, oatmeal, fruit), a couple of really nice cups of coffee that I make myself, and two really long walks around Machrihanish, a links golf course on the Kintyre Peninsula of Scotland.
What do you wish for as far as each of your stores go?
I want each store to be simpatico with the neighborhood in which it’s located. A coffeehouse — a true third place — is a collaboration. Customers, employees and the physical place — art, decor, hours of operation — they get together and decide, day by day, how to get along. And I want somebody at every store, every day, to think upon their last sip, “That’s the best cup of coffee I’ve ever had.”
Do you remember the first time you had that thought? Or any memorable moments like that? And where were you?
I can remember my first experience with Ethiopian Harrar, in Raleigh, in late 1991. I knew, even with the limited number of repetitions I had to that point, that was into something special and unexpected. And that’s still what I look for in every crop year, something special and unexpected.
What is it you like most about roasting?
The look of the coffee and the smoke as they come out of the roaster together at the end of the roast. And then scooping just enough off the top of the cooling tray to make a small sample, to know how well I did. Or didn’t.
What do people need to know about what the best way to make a cup of coffee is?
First, water temperature. Coffee needs a nominal 205 degrees Fahrenheit to brew properly, and many home coffee systems can’t produce that, at least not after they get a little bit of wear on them. Second would be consistency– in dosage, in grind, in yield.
It sounds more scientific than people might think.
The more scientific — and that might mean repeatable, in this case — your coffee-making methods are, the more you can count on the cup of coffee you’re going to end up with.
 You were on the first wave of the coffeehouse trend in the Triangle, opening Cup a Joe with Dave Sullivan on Hillsborough Street in Raleigh. What’s your fondest memory of those days? Did you ever think then that you would be where you are today?
I guess my fondest memory is the taste of an actual cappuccino and being able to reproduce that. I really liked the mirror we used as our first menu board, and the fact that our first espresso machine was a piston machine. I also liked the airplane seats.
And I didn’t really expect to be so taken with coffee that it would still be important to me 20 years later. But in 1991, it was easy to have no expectations, both because of my youth and because there was no prototype to gauge success against. Starbucks was just a small, Seattle-based enterprise then that most people hadn’t even heard of.
What I’m really excited about is the fact that out of all of this, there seems to be a lasting coffee culture in the United States. Because of my age and the fact that I was kind of in the first wave, I may at my core prefer the Italian coffee culture, but Americans have created their own coffee culture — both in the size of the lattes, how they drink their coffees and what they expect and maybe even want in an espresso shot. That goes back to the collaboration I was talking about. We have to give our customers what they want. If an Italian coffee drinker comes in, I am able to give him an Italian coffee and make him happy, but I can make someone from Portland happy as well. |
The Joe Van Gogh Story
Once upon a time,
1991
Robbie Roberts helped to open the original Cup a Joe in Raleigh on Hillsborough Street, and began to roast coffee.
1993
In 1993, Robbie sold his part of the Raleigh store and decided to open his own Cup a Joe.
1994
Cup a Joe opened in Greensboro, which Robbie sold in 1997. He also bought a San Franciscan coffee roaster, which he still uses at his roastery!
1995
Robbie opened Cup a Joe at the Timberlyne Shopping Center in Chapel Hill. Most of our regular customers have been around long enough to remember Robbie roasting coffee every morning in the store after moving the roaster to Chapel Hill in 1997.
2002
With the success of Cup a Joe in Chapel Hill, Robbie opened a second Cup a Joe on King Street in Hillsborough, creating a local hub and a spot for local writers to meet … leading to our first mention in The New York Times!
2004
With demand for beans increasing too quickly for a single-shop roaster, Robbie moved the roasting operation out of the Chapel Hill store and into a location in Hillsborough.
2007
Cup a Joe coffeeshops begin carrying the Joe Van Gogh coffee — but don’t be confused! It’s a different name, but the very same coffee, roasted by Robbie and his roasters in Hillsborough.
Wanting to expand into the Bull City, Joe Van Gogh opened its doors on Broad Street in the summer of 2007.
2008
We sold one store, and opened another! Our King Street location was sold to two former employees, who kept the Cup A Joe name and sold Joe Van Gogh coffee, while transforming the coffeehouse into their own in the downtown Hillsborough neighborhood.
We opened the second Joe Van Gogh coffeehouse in Durham, located in the heart of the Duke campus in the Bryan Center.
2011
Transformed the Chapel Hill location to JVG, and renovations for the 16-year-old store began.
In a joint venture with Locopops, makers of frozen gourmet treats, Joe Van Loco made its debut to the North Raleigh area. |
