WHEATLAND - Platte County offers some incredible and sustainable commodities, and among the specialties that this county is home to is the Cheyenne Coffee Company, a company developed by Bill and Kris Born. Although it is not a sit-down coffee shop per se, you can order directly from them.

Located on the outskirts of town in the shadows of the eastern Rocky Mountain’s Laramie Range is a mom and pop coffee shop unlike anything you’ll see within a couple of hundred miles. Their greeting is warm and steaming like a warm hug in a mug.

“Welcome to the Cheyenne Coffee Company. We believe that everyone is entitled to a fresh cup of coffee.”

On May 5, a fire swept through their coffee roasting room and the business had to shut down all activity while cleaning, remodeling and renovations were completed.

“The fire started from a malfunctioning light fixture,” Kris Born said.

Bill Born elaborated a bit saying that the bulb contact was arching with the electrical contact. It sparked and caused the fire.

According to the fire inspector who said they’d never seen anything like this, also said that another half-hour and it would have all been gone. The Born’s roasting room is in a separate building adjacent to their home, but there are two huge propane tanks that sit just outside of the roasting facility and had those gone, it most likely would have blown up the entire house.

“We have 1500 gallons of propane outside,” Kris said. “And these are gas coffee roasters.”

The fire inspector mentioned that the roasting room was so well sealed that it helped to contain the fire, but also said that Born was very fortunate that when he opened the door it didn’t backdraft and cause a loss of life.

“I was up in the house,” Bill said. “I didn’t know there was a fire in here until I opened the door and I couldn’t see. I knew it couldn’t be the roasters because they weren’t going at that time. Nothing was on except for those two lights. Of course I screamed for Kris and I knew where the fire extinguisher was so I grabbed it and I could see the flames over by the scale, but you know how your adrenaline’s going and I realized I was breathing all that crap in.”

Born put the flames out with the fire extinguisher and then he called the Wheatland Volunteer Fire Department. The fire was buring coffee beans, bags, plastic, electrical and structure.

“I ended up having to go to see the doctor because it affected my lungs,” Bill said. “It took the fire department maybe only 10 minutes to get here. Normally I would have been down here working, but Kris wanted help cleaning the ceiling fans in the house. I was up there maybe three hours.”

The costs to put a thriving business back to normal can get quite pricey and although the insurance company paid for the damages, the company also cancelled their policy and come January they will have to have another insurance company retained.

All the electrical work had to be redone, the interior walls and ceilings which underwent severe smoke damage also had to be redone.

As for the roasters which can be quite pricey, the Borns had an expert come out and assess the damage.

“We had a guy come up from Florida whose job is to assess damage on that kind of equipment,” he said. “He came and cleaned the roasters, went through all the electronics and he felt that they were fine. He said that he’s seen working roasters that were a lot worse shape than what I’ve got.”

The smoke damage caused the couple to have to get new computer systems for the roasting system and there were some pieces of equipment that had been melted by the heat of the fire. A rubber mat that was on the floor was completely melted.

Kris, who assessed the damage and tried to figure a plan of attack on how to get up and running said that when she heard Bill scream that there was a fire, she was still cleaning fans.

“He came running up and screamed, ‘Kris, we got a fire,’” she said. “Then I came running down there. I thought we were going to lose everything. At that point I didn’t know how bad it was. You couldn’t see anything because of the smoke.

The Borns said that other than the insurance company canceling their policy, they were very good and very helpful in getting them back up and running. The damage was over $60K. Had the roasters not been good, the insurance company would have just paid the limit of the claim.

It took about six and a half weeks before the company could begin to find “normal” again.

“We had to get the food inspector here in order to start up again,” she said. In being down for that period of time, a testimony to their product and service spoke volumes.

“We didn’t lose one customer,” they said. “We have very loyal customers.”

The couple say that they put in a lot of hours cleaning and making sure everything was like brand new again.

The Borns both grew up in Milwaukee, Wisconsin, and lived there for most of their younger lives. When Bill wanted to seek out a better job, Kris suggested Colorado where the couple relocated to in 1987. They spent two years there before moving to Wyoming where Bill hooked on with the Laramie River Station – Basic Electric Power Cooperative.

He stayed there for 17 years until back problems forced him to retire. As that door closed, an open window with the smell of freshly-brewed coffee sent him head-first into his passion and turned his hobby into a lucrative Wyoming business.

Passions are interesting and how we step into them are all wonderous stories.

“It was just something I was reading on the internet that caught my interest,” Bill said. “So, I bought some green beans because I was tired of grocery store coffee. It just didn’t suit my taste. Everything I read said that fresh roasted coffee tastes so much better. So, I wanted to try it.”

Since the first purchase of those green beans, the Borns were hooked. The company now has a supplier who finds for them some of the best Arabica beans available. Bill also started with his first roaster and those beans which he still has on a shelf today. It resembles a hand popcorn maker and the beans were roasted on the stove.

The early experimentation which amounted to be the start of the Cheyenne Coffee Company turned out better than the Borns expected. The marketing in those early days was equally as successful and unconventional.

From a popcorn popper the beans were roasted and ground, and Kris would fill Bill’s coffee thermos each day that he went to work. The coffee was so good that they began to pass the thermos around the breakroom and the orders started flooding in.

It’s perhaps a Wisconsin thing. Homemade anisette, wine and beer are made regularly in the small bergs and hollows of the Badger State. Some of it turns out pretty good. The more they drink, the better the reputation. So, instead of having the relatives and friends come over for free liquor in northern Wisconsin, many homes are turned into basement bars, they acquire liquor licenses and set up shop simply because at some point they have to start charging the relatives.

“It got to be I would bring a thermos of coffee to work and guys would be coming into the machine shop and pouring my coffee,” Bill said. “Pretty soon, I didn’t have any coffee for me. Then I would start selling it to guys at work that wanted me to do that. You can give those guys a good cup of coffee and they’ll remember it.”

As things progressed and business for coffee to the guys in the machine shop the corn-pop roaster just didn’t cut it.

“After the corn-popper roaster, then he bought a table-top roaster,” Kris said.

They started experimenting with roasting at that point as to times and heat temperatures and to become more consistent, they moved toward computerization of their mixes and eventually their blends. Especially those secret blends that Bill won’t share with anyone, but have been very addictive in a very good way.

“Our secret blends are our Cheyenne blend, breakfast blend and our espresso blend,” Bill said. “All these coffees can be purchased locally at Thrifty Foods, Simply Creative, Drube’s, Country Store, to name just a few.”

One of the outstanding organizations that the Cheyenne Coffee Company sows into is the Wheatland Volunteer Fire Department.

“When we first started the company, we wanted to do something for the community, so we went to the volunteer fire department here,” Bill said. “We set them up with a big coffee brewer and we give them all the coffee they can drink for free. We’ve been doing that since we opened in 2009.”

The Cheyenne Coffee company has a heart that is said to be Wyoming Friendly. 

“We think that, as a local business, we want to give something back to the community,” Kris said. “And we do other things through donations, but we wanted one specific place that we thought needed our coffee and that we could help them save money, so we picked the volunteer fire department. We provide all their coffee and their brewing equipment.”

The process to hand roast coffee is not easy. It is more of a science and must be consistent so people are getting the same tasting coffee each time they pour a cup. The beans, which come from Rwanda, Mexico, Costa Rico, Brazil and other world coffee-growing centers are chosen carefully by their importer who makes sure the beans are coming from quality family farms where the laborers are making better money and the product that comes back doesn’t have rocks and sticks and metal.

Once an order is placed, the computer connects to the roaster and the correct amount of beans is then loaded. Time and temperature is calculated to the very second and according to Bill, the heat that causes the bean to burst is key to the flavor to release both sugars and oils from the beans.

After roasting to exact specifications, the roasted beans are then dropped into a quick cooler which prevents the beans from overcooking. Within five minutes the beans are cooled and ready to be packaged.

The duo of Bill and Kris, who actually went to school to learn how to roast and are certified roasters are the only employees of the Cheyenne Coffee Company. Bill does all the roasting and packaging and Kris handles the shipping and the business side of the operation.

They work effortlessly side by side and one would wonder if they have to have their coffee before working with their spouse all day.

According to Kris, “We are small enough to custom roast your coffee, but advanced enough to embrace the latest technology, providing consistently roasted coffee.”

The Borns are fortunate that the damage didn’t completely put them out of business and they are grateful to the firefighters that came to their aid and all of their many community friends.

“I would like this opportunity to thank all of our loyal customers who purchase our coffee for their patience and understanding during our fire and rebuilding. It meant so much to us to have their support during that very trying time,” Kris said. “We are very invested in this community that we love. In addition, I have gift baskets made at Simply Creative to donate to various organizations to help them raise funds. We also helped Miners and Stockman’s develop their own special brew that they serve and sell in Hartville. The VFW is also one of our favorites.”

The company is growing and branching out all over Wyoming and they also have a reach to the city that they’re named after, stating that their coffee is also served at The Rail Yard Coffee Haus & Eatery in Cheyenne located at 1620 E. Pershing.

More information as to the coffee, ordering and roasting, you can visit at their website: www.CheyenneCoffeeCompany.com or you can call them directly at 307-351-0247.