Moscow is littered with coffee shops and caffeine outlets — from One World right off campus to a selection of Starbucks, both on and off the University of Idaho campus.
About 13 miles away from Moscow is Troy, home to locally owned and roasted Landgrove Coffee.
Jon Binninger and his wife, Hannah, founded Landgrove Coffee in 1998, but Binninger said he entered the coffee world several years prior with his brother. The two opened up a handful of coffee shops, Binninger said, including one in Boise. After several years on the cafe side of coffee, Binninger said he wanted to make the shift to roasting.
“I just wanted to get into the roasting side of it. I met my wife in 1997 and we ended up buying a roaster and just started throwing coffee in there,” he said.
With no internet ‘how-to’ guides or ample resources to get them going, Binninger said he and his wife dove right in, taking the trial-by-error route to teach themselves about the roasting industry.
Now, nearly 21 years later, Landgrove Coffee is featured in coffee hot-spots around town, from the Moscow Co-op to One World. Landgrove is brewed in other cafes and shops across the Palouse and even across the country.
“We are not in danger of getting real rich, but we aren’t starving either,” Binninger said. “It’s been a good company for us. It is working a lot.”
After getting his start in the coffee world at the forefront of cafes, Binninger said he knows how to operate and run a coffee shop. While the focus of Landgrove is on the roasting and delivery of coffee, Binninger said part of their business is also helping coffee shops with their day-to-day operations and how to best handle and sell Landgrove coffee.
Leslie Kiebert | Argonaut
A shelf in the Moscow Food Co-op houses the multiple blends of Landgrove Coffee.
“That has been really well received,” he said of the service Landgrove aims to provide. “I think (it is) one of the reasons why people really like us. And they like dealing with the owners, people like dealing with the owners.”
The three-employee business remains small at its core, something Binninger said is a piece he feels makes the business successful.
“We have never wanted to get real big,” he said. “You go from being a coffee roaster to more of a people manager, which isn’t the direction we wanted to go. We do have one really good employee who takes a lot of the workload off of us. It’s been great.”
Right behind the produce sections lies the bulk aisle, where Landgove coffee and a selection of other beans from across the region and world line the wall for customers to select. Not only is Landgrove coffee a staple of the Co-op coffee selection, but Rachael Guenthner, Co-op Grocery buyer, said Landgrove provides the Co-op with much more than just coffee beans.
Guenthner said Landgrove has put an emphasis on aiding the Co-op in best selling the coffee and supporting the business, from hand-delivering their coffee to the shop to providing the coffee grinders during the Co-op’s remodel.
“They really do provide the best service that they can to our customer base as well as their own,” Guenthner said. “I would definitely say that (it is a really hands on relationship) and they really appreciate their relationship with the Co-op and we really appreciate their relationship.”
Binninger cozied his temporary coffee display table at the end of the bulk aisle Sept. 26 and Sept. 27, just steps away from the bulk containers holding his coffee beans. With three blends and pour-over setups prepared, Binninger stood and awaited Co-op shoppers to stop by and taste the coffee.
But he said his goal in the set up was not to simply sell coffee or give a big demonstration, but simply put a face to Landgrove.
“Basically, (I) just make connections with customers,” he said. “It is mostly just the connection with the customers. And to educate people on coffee too — dark roast, light roast, weak, all these terms are confusing to people.”
In a coffee-crazed world, Binninger said people are easily hung-up on the knit-picky details of brewing the perfect cup of coffee. Instead of obsessing over minute details in creating the perfect pot, Binninger said he recommends keeping it simple and remembering the basics of a good cup of coffee.
“People go a little off the charts,” Binninger said. “Be relaxed about it, use good water, 200-degree, good quality water. Fresh coffee and then just try to keep your brew timer 3-4 minutes no matter what it is.”
Meredith Spelbring can be reached at [email protected]