Pictured: At Gasparilla Roasting, you'll find incredible coffee and an educational experience. Provided photo.

What began as one man’s search for the perfect cup of coffee has grown into one of the area’s most beloved local brands. A lifelong coffee drinker, Steffen Capello went from experimenting with home roasting to gifting excess beans to friends and family members. The next step was launching Gasparilla Roasting as a cottage industry business, selling beans at local farmers markets. Now Gasparilla Roasting has opened its first brick-and-mortar location in Englewood, but it is not your typical coffee shop.

“We’re not calling it a cafe. It’s a roastery with a tasting room,” Capello explains. “The idea is that people can come in and try the different coffees that we offer and hear what the tasting notes are, what the origin is, where it comes from. It’s more like a wine bar concept than a straight cafe concept.”

Capello is always happy to chat with customers about the coffee he produces, but if you want to go in-depth, he also offers personalized tasting classes on-site. You can book a small group for a 90-minute session, and Capello will brew several different types of coffee and go into the detailed tasting notes. The classes can be customized for people with all levels of coffee knowledge.

Having a brick-and-mortar location is also allowing Capello to expand his operations to offer wholesaling.

“I’m selling my coffee to anything from coffee trucks and cafes, but also things like real estate offices or other businesses where somebody is serving their customers coffee,” Capello says. “Providing a great cup of coffee can be an unexpected way to elevate the customer experience.”

Gasparilla Roasting, 3374 N. Access Rd., Englewood, 941-564-5351, gasparillaroasting.com.

Pictured: At Gasparilla Roasting, you'll find incredible coffee and an educational experience. Provided photo.