Eric Faust calls himself a “reluctant businessman.”
A college English major, the 28-year-old Stillwater, Minn., native developed an affinity for roasting coffee beans on a popcorn popper with his University of Minnesota Duluth roommate.
“I always thought I was going to be a writer or a professor,” said Faust, who is the founder and owner of Duluth Coffee Co., a wholesale distributor of carefully selected and locally roasted beans from around the globe.
Related content: Eric Faust Q&A
In his lead-up to becoming a businessman, Faust wrote freelance pieces about coffee. He slung coffee as a barista in St. Paul. The more he learned about the beans - there are two beans inside every coffee berry - the more he loved it. The more he loved it, the more he developed his passion. He befriended and mined the brain of Ed Dunn, of Dunn Brothers fame, during their regular visits. He waited tables. He managed local restaurants.
“He learned as he went,” said Duluth resident and freelance copy editor Kate Regan. “He taught himself what he needed to know and relied on mentors to guide him.”
Then he bought a roaster.
“It’s not a coffee-growing region,” Faust said, “but what I could do is influence the taste of the coffee through roasting.”
If you’ve ever wondered why so much of the coffee you drink tastes so charred, Faust can explain it. On the continuum of coffee - from the sweet caramelization at one end to the smoky carbonization at the other - it’s most economical for coffee makers to char the beans during the roast, Faust said. Charring the coffee gives it a consistent taste - consistently charred. Any bean can be used to that end, so coffee makers can use the cheapest beans.
Faust explained that it’s his company’s goal to be uncompromising, to proliferate a type of coffee that elevates the industry as a phoenix rising from charred ashes.
Faust works from his office above Duluth Coffee Co.’s lone retail outlet on downtown’s East Superior Street. There, he aims to find the best beans from the most well-run farms around the globe.
“We go beyond Fair Trade and pay prices well above Fair Trade,” he said.
The result can be revolutionary on the senses. A home brew of Duluth Coffee Co.’s Ethiopian Yirgacheffe, for example, offers a waft of blueberry that has the power to transform the idea of what coffee is supposed to be.
“We take a bitter product - coffee is inherently bitter and disgusting - and we sweeten it,” Faust said. “We buy a high-
quality product and figure out where it needs to be on the spectrum.”
Duluth Coffee Co. serves 40 clients on a growing roster. Faust and his wife, Jena, have two young children, Ailee, 3, and Teddy, 1.
The reluctant businessman has turned the corner to a profitable one.
“It’s been an uphill battle from day one,” he said. “We’ve been out over the cliff, honestly. But we bite down hard on our lip and struggle through it. It’s instinct.”
Duluth Coffee Co. pays its employees above the federal minimum wage mandate set for 2016, Faust said, and contributes to an employee retirement fund. It also has received a national Bicycle Friendly Business Award.
Faust also serves on the advisory committee with UMD’s Institute for Cultural Entrepreneurship.
“Eric lives out values of respect and fairness in the way he runs his business,” Regan said.
