Coffee roaster turns hobby into new business

A specialty coffee shop has joined the parade of new businesses opening in downtown Greybull as 2020 draws to a close.

Aspire Coffee Roasters recently opened on North Sixth Street, next door to Moonstar Trading Post in the Historic Hotel Greybull building.

The business is owned by Scott Boeckner, a Minnesota native with a passion for good coffee.

He came to the area in the summer of 2018, and after going back and forth for more than a year, decided to make this his permanent home last November, when he accepted a job offer doing accounting work for Summit Excavation.

He still does accounting work remotely, working out of an office in his new coffee shop. 

“I’ve been roasting coffee as a hobby for five years,” he said. “I started small, roasting two pounds at a time.  Three years in, I upgraded to a small commercial machine.”

Boeckner said he buys 150-pound bags of coffee, sourcing the beans from sellers in Kenya, Costa Rico, Colombia and Ethopia.  He can roast up to three pounds of beans at a time.  He drops them into a propane-heated drum roaster, where they spent anywhere from nine to 13 minutes being heated at a temperature of 400 degrees.  When the process is completed, they drop into a cooling tray and he bags them.  He’s currently selling four flavors of beans in 12-ounce and 5-pound bags.

Boeckner was asked what appealed to him the most about the coffee industry.  “It’s the relationships, without question,” he said. “You can make such an impact on people.  A cup of coffee is always a good thing to connect over — and the roasting is just the beginning process of it all.”

He's not ready to do it just yet, but Boeckner said his goal is to eventually sell freshly-brewed coffee and for his business to become a gathering place where people can enjoy high-quality coffee while chatting it up with their friends.

Aspire Coffee Roasters is open Monday through Friday from 8 a.m. to 5 p.m. and Boeckner said he can be reached by phone at 307-248-3809 or email at scott@aspirecoffeeroasters.com.