Coffee Culture: Crowning the Queens of the Beans

Dark, thick and more than a little bit spicy. Light, creamy and just sweet enough. Mysterious, with a big, voluptuous body. No, we're not describing your most recent Grindr hookup. No matter how you dig your cuppa joe, Rainbow Brew Coffee will make your mouth merry.

A year old next month, the Minneapolis-based company is the brainchild of David Birchard and Cory Weissman, the self-proclaimed "Queens Behind the Beans." The pair, who co-own Twin Cities Gay Scene and have been partners in life as well as work for a decade, say they founded Rainbow Brew when they couldn't find an online, gay-owned craft coffee company. "So," they add simply, "we created one."

Selling No Coffee Before Its Time

Birchard and Weissman picked the right business at the right time; specialty coffee's surging popularity shows no signs of abating. According to the Specialty Coffee Association of America, last year specialty coffees filled 51 percent of U.S. cups and netted a nearly 55 percent value share of the market.

Part of the wider artisanal beverage trend, great craft coffee "starts with a great roaster. And we have the best," notes Birchard. "Our roaster goes to the origin whenever possible to meet the people we buy our coffee from - he just returned from Peru last week. We use certified fair trade, organic coffee and only roast in small batches. Everything is done by hand and eye. No computers control the roasting process. It's always fresh and roasted to order - there is no stock inventory lying around here!"

Currently, Rainbow Brew is offering up more than a dozen tempting coffee concoctions, all sold in one-pound bags for $13 each, or three bags for $37.50. For extra fun, they feature appellations that tip the hat to the LGBT community, from the breakfast blend Morn'n Mary to the dark Vienna roast Xpresso Self. Newest is what the pair call their "holigay" blend, Yuletide Gay.

Hot Trends and Good Deeds

The Queen Beans have found lighter roasts to be more fashionable now than darker roasts. "Lighter roasts have a higher caffeine content," Weissman explains. "Our Midnite Grind is one buzz-worthy lighter blend!" Otherwise, he points out that java junkies are still big into latte art, along with recipe experimentation (nowadays who doesn't do a little coffee rub when grilling meat) along with home brewing devices like the $580 Ratio Eight, which looks as yummy as the coffee it makes tastes. As for their personal proclivities, Birchard and Weissman profess to equally love "a good old-fashioned single-cup pour over, a French press or a cold brew." (Summertime coffee drinkers can look forward to the return of Rainbow Brew's Ice Queen Blend when the weather heats up.)

As if killer coffee isn't enough to turn your head, Birchard and Weissman are offering about a half-dozen special fundraising coffees as part of Rainbow Brew's Caffeinated 4 A Cause program. For each bag sold, the company donates one dollar to organizations like the GLBT National Help Center, Twin Cities Pride and the Minnesota AIDS Project.

"We thought the one thing that would make a cup of our coffee more satisfying was if it supported the gay community," says Birchard. "Rainbow Brew offers gay coffee drinkers an incredible coffee that has been handled, processed, shipped and roasted with the upmost attention - not only to the quality of the beans, but also to the quality of life surrounding it."