Michael & Mary Kell, the founders of Jacksonville’s GoodBean Coffee, brought home a Gold and two Silver Medals at the 2010 Best Coffee in Oregon Invitational Championship held at the Oregon State Fair in Salem. GoodBean was the only coffee roaster to win medal honors in three out of the four categories for Best Coffee in Oregon 2010.
On Saturday, August 28, Oregon State Fair officials awarded the Kells the Gold Medal for the Best Evening Coffee in Oregon for their Dark Mountain Espresso blend. GoodBean was also awarded two Silver Medals for their 100% Organic Peruvian coffee in the “Best Day Coffee” in Oregon. This coffee is 100% Fair Trade, which means the source producers in Peru receive a premium price over and above market levels. Lastly, they picked-up a second Silver Medal for their Mocha Java Decaf in the “Best Decaf Coffee” in Oregon category.
Mary, Michael and Savannah Kell
The competition featured twenty of Oregon’s best coffee roasters and was a double-blind judging event officiated by top coffee professionals from the Pacific Northwest.
Michael exclaimed, “This is a huge honor for GoodBean and for Southern Oregon business to have won… it’s been a good year for us – it’s our 20-year anniversary, too!”
The Kells founded the GoodBean in 1990 after leaving Northern Colorado in 1989 to “build a life somewhere in the Pacific Northwest after growing up on the beaches of Southern California!”
After taking note that the quality of life they’d both enjoyed as kids had given way to freeway gridlock and urban sprawl, they set their sights on the snow- capped mountains of Colorado. “But, as the longtime local couple say, “ten-foot snow drifts until June was too much for a couple of beach kids.” Leaving Colorado, they headed to Idaho, Washington and Oregon, looking for a place to land. Mike recalls, “The Rogue Valley was our last stand because we were both resolved not to cross over the California border. As it turns out, this was where we were meant to be all along!”
Reflecting on twenty years in the bean business, Michael says, “Coffee’s been good to us…we’ve raised a couple of our own kids and a thousand others over the last two decades. Being a local merchant in a small town is about the coolest vocation anyone can have, especially running the local watering hole/coffee house!”
Laughingly, Michael admits, “The coolest coffee house in Southern Oregon was built on the back of Mary’s personality. We were a good team in those days and still are. While Mary took care of the customers, I took care of everything else, pretty much. As Mary spent the day bouncing from laundry to lattes, I just ran ‘til I dropped.”
In the 1990’s GoodBean opened a second store in Ashland. When absentee-managing Ashland teenagers proved a bit much, the Kell’s focused on building the wholesale side of their business. The hard work has paid off. Today, you’ll find their coffee being served in local restaurants, hotels, cafes, universities, hospitals, and country clubs. And, you’ll find bags of their world-class coffee on grocery store shelves – a major focus they plan to continue. “Our plans now are simple,” says Michael. “We want to grow the distribution end of the business. Last year, we started in the local grocery stores and have expanded into the regional supermarket chains with the fall addition of 20 of the 60+ Ray’s Food Places and more to follow.” And, while many Jacksonville locals miss the smell of roasting coffee wafting through town, the Kell’s decision to move their roasting operation to Medford enabled them to grow the wholesale end of the business.
During this 20th Anniversary year, look for many promotional events including the GoodBean’s expanded Facebook Fan Page where the Kell’s will be “waxing nostalgic, celebrating and re-telling old stories about life, love and business over the past two decades!” Michael and Mary conclude, “We’ll see what the good Lord has for us…up to this point, it’s been a very, very good life and a Gold Medal for Best Coffee in Oregon is a big juicy cherry on top.”