Island Coffee shop, which opened earlier this month. The brainchild of entrepreneurs and co-owners of the west-coast style cafe Mr. Mark Kaufmann and Miss Susannah Frith, Rock Island Coffee offers a myriad of fresh roasted coffee and natural teas. The idea for the coffee shop and Bermuda's only fresh roasted coffee spot, located on the Waterfront at PWs on Pitt's Bay Road, surfaced early last year when Mr. Kaufmann and Miss Frith were living on the west-coast, in San Francisco and Vancouver respectively. "I had never had fresh roasted coffee before and found myself spending a lot of time in coffee houses,'' said Mr. Kaufmann, adding that he lived near Polk Street, an area famous for its gourmet coffee shops, which are big hang-outs for people on the west-coast. Mr. Kaufmann was so taken by the fresh roasted coffee trade that he wanted to bring it to Bermuda. "Before we opened, all coffee on the Island was pre-roasted. That makes it virtually impossible to provide residents with fresh roasted coffee because once coffee has been roasted, it is exposed to oxygen and begins to stale,'' he said. Also given Bermuda's humid weather, imported pre-roasted coffee is bound to be plagued with problems, he said.

Miss Frith, an avid coffee drinker said: "The Island needed good coffee. I have always been a huge coffee fan and my coffee fanaticism was accentuated when I lived in Boston and Rome, where I drank a lot of good coffee. "When Mark and I first talked about opening the business together, I had been back in Bermuda for about six months after living in Vancouver,'' she noted. There, Miss Frith worked in a cafe/roastery, similar to Rock Island Coffee, where she learned about fresh roasted coffee. "I wanted to learn about coffee -- that's one of the reasons why I took the job,'' she said. Miss Frith and Mr. Kaufmann exchanged letters with the idea of opening up a business. And a few months later, they attended a "coffee fest'' in Philadelphia, where they checked out coffee machines and paraphernalia. "We wanted to provide fresh roasted coffee,'' said Mr. Kaufmann, "so we knew we had to open a roastery. The first order of business, then, was to find a location.'' The duo looked first to Dockyard to establish their roastery but could not be accommodated. And in March, 1994, they met with president of Pearman Watlington Mr. William Cox, who was already keen on opening a coffee house. "Mr. Cox had future plans to turn this space into a coffee shop,'' said Mr. Kaufmann. "And we needed somewhere with enough space for a roaster (the flue is over six feet high).'' The 500-square-foot area, which was previously an old PWs warehouse-style "machine shop,'' was cleared out and rented to the Rock Island Coffee shop owners. Once a location was secured, Mr. Kaufmann and Miss Frith went abroad for training in San Francisco. There they learned how to roast coffee and the techniques involved in roasting different coffees as well how to maintain the roasting machine. "We did a lot of hands-on roasting there,'' said Miss Frith. "And we did a lot of cupping, which is like the equivalent of wine-tasting.'' Through cupping and consultations with their green bean (raw) broker, the two friends decided on the inventory for their new shop. Rock Island Coffee roasts all coffees on the premises daily, thereby producing the finest and freshest coffees available in Bermuda. Customers can buy coffees by the pound, half pound or quarter pound, enjoy coffee in the cafe or purchase coffee beverages to go. Rock Island Coffee is open Monday to Friday from 7 a.m. to 6 p.m. and Saturdays from 8 a.m. to 6 p.m. Beginning in April or May, the shop will extend its hours on Friday and Saturday evenings. PHOTO DELECTABLE DRINKS -- Miss Susannah Frith is pictured whipping up Rock Island's specialty coffee beverages, which include espresso, cappuccino, cafe latte and cafe mocha.

FRESH ROASTED -- Miss Susannah Frith and Mr. Mark Kaufmann are trained to work Bermuda's only coffee roaster, which applies heat to raw coffee seeds.