What is RoosRoast?

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RoosRoast Coffee is a life, art, food project that turned legit. It was born of John Roos’ mind and person, but now it’s all of us – you reading these words, the good people who work here, the coffee farmers and each and every funny encounter we have over a cup of coffee.

Who we are: The RoosRoast way

We are… thrifty, reusers, scrappy. Our coffee is just… better. We don’t run out. We’re ready, we’re willing. Yes. Feel the love, the lobster butter love. This coffee is an experience. RoosRoast. We’re hard working people, working hard. Building skills, all skills, communication skills. A living wage! Benefits! For real and not for fake. Keep it real. This place is eclectic. Liberal arts town garage sale idiosyncratic. We like handmade and homemade and GREAT. Make it funny, it might be irreverent, maybe inappropriate, slightly unexpected, possibly even psychedelic. We are improvising this business, no MBA plan. We tend to be bottomline, but it’s not all bottomline. Grass roots, deep local. Ann Arbor organic. Protect this grass, this earth, this planet. We are ourselves, not some other shop, we are RoosRoast. Born of John Roos’ brain. Serving the community, every day. Because the people they love. And the coffee, the coffee…

*This text comes from a team vision session, "What Makes RoosRoast, RoosRoast?" 2020

john roos roasting coffee in the early days of roosroast coffee

John Roos: Chef Man, Coffee Man

John Roos, citizen, promoter and coffee seller, was born in Ann Arbor sometime when hash bash was still cool. Speaking of which, people often think he’s stoned, because he actually listens to people and still rides a skateboard. His dad had a barbershop on Main St and his mom worked in a bank. Deep local. As a reformed ski bum, poet, artist, consultant chef, and Subaru salesman, Roos learned how to relate through many languages, bohemian subcultures and seriously hyped work ethics. In the kitchen, he developed a chef's palate which is probably why his coffee tastes so good. Roos is a self-taught artist with a journal by his side at all times. Though he never achieved his dad’s dream of celebrity-chef stardom, since 2005 he’s used his skills to develop RoosRoast into a giant network of coffee and art that goes beyond his singular personhood. RoosRoast is bigger than a single person right now. But, if you want to know why and how anyone could name a coffee "Lobster Butter Love", the answer lies with John Roos himself.

The Origin of RoosRoast

Do you ever wonder how a wandering ski bum, chef, self-taught artist and Ann Arbor-native, settled down long enough to create a legitimate coffee roasting company?

warning: this story has been abbreviated for time and therefore is of questionable accuracy.