Everybody has an aha moment. For the Apostle Paul, it came on the road to Damascus. For Reverb Coffee founder Jeremy Harris, it happened one night in a tiny village in the Dominican Republic.
“I was having dinner at a friend’s house,” recalls Harris, “and our hostess brought out this old metal cafeteria tray covered with shot glasses. And I was like, what is this old lady doing?”
The shot glasses, it turned out, were full of espresso—but not just any espresso. The coffee had been grown and roasted right there in the village. The espresso was brewed on a stovetop with brown sugar, and the flavor, says Harris, was out of this world.
“I’d never had that level of coffee before,” he continues. “I thought, you know, why don’t we have this where I live?”
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Why, indeed? When he got back to the States, Harris bought a home roaster, and in April 2013, he started selling his beans commercially.
His concept is simple: teach Memphis to brew better coffee. That means doing lighter roasts (darker roasts obscure delicate origin flavors) and shortening the time between roasting and brewing.
In practice, that involves roasting smaller batches and delivering them to stores more frequently. I tried a cup of their Ethiopia Lekempte, which was rich and smooth, with notes of citrus and berry.
Want to try Reverb Coffee? Chances are, you already have. (Hint: it’s in the beer.)
Back in January, Reverb partnered with Memphis Made Brewing to produce Reverberation, a Belgian-style coffee stout. The first run was such a hit that—Happy Turkey Day!—they’re bringing it back at the end of November.
If you prefer your coffee the old-fashioned way, you can pick up a one-pound bag of Reverb at Cash Saver or Miss Cordelia’s. Or hey, they brew it fresh at Avenue Coffee, right around the corner from the University of Memphis.
But hey—can you keep a secret? Like seriously, just between us? Word on the street is that Reverb is getting its own coffee shop in December—and it may or may not be somewhere in Cooper Young. Shh!
