Business
BY BRITTANY ANDERSON
All of Wild Gift Co ee’s beans are roasted in-house using the company’s industrial-sized roasting machines.
Wild Gift Co ee was founded by Rob Ovitt, Jenée Ovitt and Clancy Rose.
PHOTOS COURTESY WILD GIFT COFFEE
Wild Gift Co ee brings co ee, culture to North Austin
From fruity notes to chocolatey blends, Wild Gift Co ee has sold a variety of co ee beans sourced from countries around the world and roasted in-house in North Austin for a decade. Meet the team The co ee roasting company was founded in 2014 by Clancy Rose and spouses Rob and Jenée Ovitt. The three have been in the co ee business since 2004 as baristas and co ee shop owners, Rose said. The company initially operated in Round Rock for three years before relocating to Austin. “We just had an idea to try to buy some of the best co ees that we could nd in the world, and have super fresh, exciting co ees,” Rose said. “[We] had a lot of relationships with people around town to give us a foot in the door.” What’s special about it? The company sells single origin and blended bags with beans sourced from Latin American countries such as Brazil, Colombia, El Salvador, Guatemala, Peru and Mexico. There are also some beans sourced from Africa, including Ethiopia, Kenya and Rwanda. Rose has been in charge of sourcing and buying beans since the start, he said, and has traveled extensively around Latin America to build partner- ships with local farmers there. “That’s the job and that’s a thing that I always
wanted to do,” Rose said. “That was a big focus, especially at rst, in nding these relationships and nding producers to work with.” Di erent regions have di erent climates, elevations and soil compositions, Rose said, which can change the way the co ee beans taste—even if they’re harvested from the same farm, or har- vested only a few days apart from each other. Back at Wild Gift Co ee, the team tries new co ee beans and tests its current blends for quality control by grinding the beans and steeping them in water. “This is how all co ee professionals will analyze co ee, because there’s not really much training involved,” Rose said. “There’s not a barista ele- ment. You need water heated to the right tempera- ture, a grinder, a scale, and cups and spoons.” The company also has two industrial-sized co ee bean roasting machines and an entire warehouse space dedicated to packing orders and storing its “green co ee,” or raw co ee beans sold in one-pound bags, ideal for home roasters. Staying local Along with the company’s physical location in North Austin, 12-ounce Wild Gift Co ee bags can be found in local co ee shops around Austin including Once Over Co ee Bar, which the Ovitt’s opened in 2009. The brand can also be found in both Austin Central Market locations.
The company sells single origin and blended co ee bean varieties.
The company imports its beans from countries across Latin America and Africa.
INDUSTRIAL TERRACE
183
MOPAC
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3100 A Industrial Terrace, Austin www.wildgiftco ee.com
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NORTHWEST AUSTIN EDITION
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