Swaziland RPCV Tom Arsenault runs On Safari Trading Co., a coffee roasting business



Arsenault opened the business last year after living in Zimbabwe for 11 years with his wife, Elizabeth Bara. In the early '90s, Arsenault and his wife, who met in the Peace Corps, founded a nonprofit organization, ASAP, a self-help assistance program in southern Africa.

Swaziland RPCV Tom Arsenault runs On Safari Trading Co., a coffee roasting business

He knows beans about roasting coffee
Office park smell boosts java lovers

By ABBY G. BRUNKS
The Atlanta Journal-Constitution
Published on: 01/12/06

Janet Prescott gets her daily dose of coffee at work by drinking and smelling it — thanks to a business a few doors away.

"Sometimes I just step outside my office to get my aroma fix," Prescott said.

The java-filled air comes from a place tucked away in a Peachtree City office park, where Tom Arsenault runs On Safari Trading Co.,a coffee roasting business. Stacks of burlap bags filled with unroasted coffee beans wait to get thrown into the computerized roaster.

The majority of business transactions take place via the Internet, but locals can stop by to buy freshly roasted coffee beans from places like Zimbabwe, Ethiopia, India and Brazil.

Richard Simms, a Peachtree City real estate developer who manages the office park on Fulton Court, had some concerns initially when Arsenault asked him about renting an office.

"I wondered if odors from the coffee roaster might bother other tenants, but as it turns out, it's like aromatherapy for everyone in the office park," Simms said. "His roaster is really high-tech and doesn't cause any problems whatsoever."

The roasting process typically takes 18 minutes, according to Arsenault.

The admitted coffee lover drinks about 10 cups of coffee a day.

"I've got to keep testing it to make sure it's right," Arsenault laughed.

Simms drinks four to five cups of coffee a day and said Arsenault's coffee is unlike any he's ever had.

"Once in a while you find a cup of coffee that is out of this world, and it has a richness and flavor and aroma that's a rare treat," Simms said. "That's what I found in Tom's coffee."

Arsenault opened the business last year after living in Zimbabwe for 11 years with his wife, Elizabeth Bara.

In the early '90s, Arsenault and his wife, who met in the Peace Corps, founded a nonprofit organization, ASAP, a self-help assistance program in southern Africa.

As the years passed, both knew returning to the United States was inevitable for a host of reasons.

It didn't take long for Arsenault, 60, a coffee drinker since he was 13, to put his passion into a business.

"Coffee is a unique beverage and every coffee bean produces a different taste," Arsenault said. "One of the things about roasting is that how you roast it determines the taste. If you roast a bean too dark, you basically burn it and burn out the natural flavors of that particular bean. What fascinates me is that the roasting process allows you to create a variety of new tastes from a raw coffee bean."

Arsenault also offered some advice for people who think the refrigerator is the place to keep coffee.

"Don't," he said emphatically. "The best place to keep coffee is in an airtight container, in a dark place like a cabinet. A refrigerator or freezer just dries out the coffee."

When this story was posted in January 2006, this was on the front page of PCOL:




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