Happy Birthday, LRR!
Living Room Roasters is turning 3! We are so excited to celebrate with you, and wanted to take a look back and celebrate together what God has done through Living Room Roasters in the past year. (There’s a really fun look down memory lane at the end for those who are interested 😉)
Birthday Celebration Events
August 24 : Cupping Workshop
Join us for a cupping workshop, where you’ll learn about tasting coffee, and taste and exclusive LRR coffee before it is available for purchase! “Cupping” is a way coffee professionals taste & calibrate their taste buds as well as grade the quality of coffee. We will guide you through the process, so don’t worry if you’ve never cupped before! Space is very limited for this event - buy your ticket here.
If you are an experienced cupper, feel free to bring your own spoons. We do request that if you have long hair that you put it back for the duration of the workshop since we will be up close and personal with the coffees.
September 1 : Online Sale
Shop online on our true “3rd Birthday” for exclusive discounts on subscription orders & surprise gift included with orders over $50.
September 4 : Free Drip Coffee
Stop by the Roastery and get a free cup of drip coffee with the purchase of a 16oz bag of coffee.
September 5 : Brew Your Way
Stop by the Roastery to get a free 16oz bag of coffee with the purchase of brewing gear. This includes kettles, scales, cold brewers, french presses, pour over drippers, hand grinders, and more!
September 6 : Painting with Coffee
Paint a unique fall watercolor type picture using coffee, guided by artist Sydni Carlson. Space is very limited for this event - buy your ticket here.
September 7 : Wheel of Deals
Stop by The Roastery to spin the wheel and win discounts, free stuff, extra stamps on loyalty, and more!
Why Celebrate?
Living Room Roasters is a dream that was born in our dear friends’ living room that soon became a reality as a side hustle based out of our very own living room. We started our business with a big dream - to create not just a coffee brand, but an avenue for people to connect. Taking a shot in the dark and hoping that we would sell just 1 bag of coffee, we attended our first market. We ended up almost selling out that day, and this is when we realized our dreams could become a reality. We grew our business and continued to operate online and at various local festivals, planning on waiting 3-5 years to open a storefront. When we were met with such tremendous encouragement and love of our product we fast tracked our plans by upgrading our equipment and opened our brick and mortar business on the 1 year anniversary of Living Room Roasters.
Since opening, we have continued to see the support of our community and strive to be “a living room of our city.” Our business comes from a passion for a quality cup of coffee and the relationships that are built around one, and we want to create a product that encourages people to invite others into their own living rooms, connecting in a natural and meaningful way.
What We’ve Accomplished in Year 3
So here we are, at year 3 of Living Room Roasters. We feel so blessed to be able to do what we love every day, and even more thankful that we get to share it all with you. There are so many things I wish I could share, but here is a short list of some of my favorite things we’ve been able to do since September 2023:
We received the Regional “Best of Georgia” Award in the Coffeehouses Category from the Georgia Business Journal.
We got to celebrate with so many of our sweet customers turned friends by catering for baby showers, weddings, and Chamber Ribbon Tyings.
We were 1 of only 500 small businesses in the US to receive the “Backing Small Business” Grant from American Express and Main Street America. Receiving this grant allowed Allen to go to Coffee Technician Training, where he learned about hydraulics, plumbing, water quality testing, and espresso machine & grinder maintenance; while Hayli was able to attend trainings focused on green coffee, sensory skills, and roasting. We were also able to purchase more green coffee inventory, and some specialized equipment for cupping and quality control.
We hosted 8 local small business owners in the Roastery for our 2nd year of “Second Saturday Pop-Ups.”
Hayli was able to participate in and graduate from Leadership Toccoa-Stephens County, a program by the Toccoa-Stephens County Chamber of Commerce that provides business leaders with unique opportunities to enhance their civic knowledge of Stephens County, to sharpen their leadership skills, and to connect with leaders from across the community.
Many people walk through our doors as strangers and leave as friends. So many sacred moments have been kindly shared with us this past year - from people who are celebrating their upcoming marriage, people who are grieving the loss of loved ones, friends who haven’t seen each other in a long time, moms who need a short break, pastors meeting together to pray for our city. We cherish each story people feel led to share with us, and feel honored that our space is considered safe for these moments to occur.
We were able to donate to 1 cause every month - including donations for the adult summer reading program at the Toccoa-Stephens County Public Library, a food drive for Food2Kids, and most recently the Back to School Clothing Drive with R&R Terminal and Currahee Movement Collective.
Hayli was appointed as a board member for the Downtown Development Authority, a volunteer organization that advocates for growth of downtown economic activity, provides public education on downtown’s value to the community, and links downtown activities to other community activities.
We have expanded our product offerings in-store, and started a Subscription service online.
We have been nominated for “Best of Georgia” in the Coffeehouses category again this year - you can cast your vote for us here. We have also been nominated for “Entrepreneur of the Year” by the Toccoa-Stephens County Chamber of Commerce.
From Our Living Room to Yours
We hope you will come celebrate with us in the days and months to come! Toccoa, specifically Downtown, is growing exponentially, and we don’t want to simply ride the waves of growth - we want to create them. We seek to set ourselves apart from other roasters, and bolster our community as we continue to add value to our service offerings and give people a safe space to learn & grow together. We hope that our coffee inspires you to create your own “Living Room Spaces” - where new friendships can be formed, burdens can be shared, and core memories can be made. Spaces where the mess of life can be shared along with the joys, and where people can feel loved & known & understood, simply by sharing a cup of coffee together. Thank you to all of the wonderful people in our corner who have been supporting us since the beginning, and those who we have just met. Your encouragement & kindness means so much to us. Here’s to continuing to dream big for our community!
From our living room to yours,
Hayli & Allen Brewer
A Walk Down Memory Lane…
