Blackland Coffee of Royse City roasts its own beans

by Minnie Payne

ROYSE CITY — Freshly roasted beans represent the next wave of coffee connoisseurism -- one that's hit Royse City, Texas. Specifically Blackland Coffee Company, owned by Chuck Gutilla.

Gutilla became involved in coffee roasting after an older brother sparked an interest by telling him about the extraordinary espresso sold in Europe when he would go there on business trips.

“My brother noticed that everybody was very interested in espresso and even though he had tried espresso in the United States, it didn’t taste as good as it did in Europe,” he said. “When he returned to the States, he bought an espresso machine, but much to his chagrin, the coffee still lagged behind Europe’s product.”

Gutilla and his brother determined that the secret to good coffee was in the freshness of the roasted beans, so they bought an old popcorn popper in which to roast their beans.

“We roasted [beans] two or three times a week that way for about a year and the coffee was so much better than anything we could buy in the store,” he said. “Our family and friends became spoiled.”

Gutilla looked around for a more professional means for roasting the beans, but couldn’t afford a $12,000 to $50,000 drum in which to roast.

“I found someone online who manufactures and sells stainless steel coffee-roasting drums for gas grills,” he said. “I made a few upgrades and it works great.”

He puts in five pounds of green coffee beans at a time which produces four pounds of roasted beans and the process takes about 20 to 25 minutes.

“The coffee goes through two stages of crack (roasts), the first stage sounding like popcorn popping and the second crack sounding like someone mashing cellophane together," Gutilla said. “I can tell by sight and sound when the coffee is ready.”

After the coffee is roasted, he cools it quickly on a handmade cooling rack, then goes through each batch, picking out bad and blemished beans.

He said the roaster is set up right at the edge of the garage; presently, he roasts three or four times a week.

"When we built our house, we built a 10-foot by 20-foot heated and cooled room that I had planned to use for woodworking, but I turned it into a 'coffee room'," he said.

Gutilla officially opened family-owned Blackland Coffee Company in 2006.

"Although our mailing address is Royse City, Blackland is the closest town," he said.

He buys his green coffee beans from Theta Ridge Coffee in Indiana.

"Somebody who orders as little green coffee beans as I do normally would have to pay five times as much," he said. "I can’t afford to buy big bags of coffee beans, and I’m very grateful for Theta Ridge Coffee."

Gutilla sells one pound coffee bags at $12 per bag. A quick trip to his Web site lists different varieties and grinds, which have met favor with customers such as James Cooper of Old Tappan, N.J.

"I love [his] coffee so much I don’t want to drink anything else,” said Cooper. “I have been trying others, but I always come back to [his].”

Most of Gutilla's current customers are people he works with at Donruss Trading Cards in Arlington, church members, Internet customers, and a recently acquired organic grown food outlet, Barking Cat Farm in Rockwall County.

Gutilla earned a Bachelor of Arts Degree in English from West Virginia University in 1985; is married to his wife, Angie, and they have five children.

"As a minister, I firmly believe that Blackland Coffee will be served in heaven," said Rockwall minister Ryan Tompkins.