Norwich coffee to be celebrated as successful startup at manufacturing conference

Norwich – City-based coffee startup Craftsman Cliff Roasters’ latest innovation, compostable single-serve cups for K-cup coffee machines, will be included in gift bags given to more than 100 attendees at a manufacturing startup conference in Hartford Monday.

The conference marks the launch of Massachusetts-based FORGE, a nonprofit that helps manufacturing startups navigate from product prototype to commercial production.

Craftsman Cliff Roasters owner Matthew Dutrumble said the paper K-cup containers release stronger coffee aroma than the plastic cups and can be composted or filled with dirt and a seed and planted.

Dutrumble said he was excited FORGE ― which is not an acronym ― found his product, because the nonprofit helps startup companies do exactly what he has done over the past five years.

"It's been the story of our business and our company," Dutrumble said Friday. "We keep our head down and concentrate on creating coffee and cacao, and people find us."

Craftsman Cliff, named for Dutrumble's father, opened a small downtown Norwich café five years ago, roasting small batches of sustainable source coffee and cacao from various countries. Dutrumble opened the café at 34 Broadway to be sure people would like his coffee and hot cocoa before he packaged it for retail sale.

The business took off. When the COVID-19 pandemic hit, Dutrumble closed the café permanently and converted the space into a factory outlet. For a retail cup of Craftsman Cliff's coffee, he refers customers to the Cream Coffee Shop a short walk away at 48 Franklin St.

Craftsman Cliff's bagged coffee now is sold at more than 50 locations, from grocery stores such as Stop & Shop and ShopRite to small farm stores and farmers’ markets. Online orders come in from all 50 states, and he gets montlhy orders from someone in Guam.

At the start of 2023, Dutrumble hooked up with another startup business in West Virginia that manufactures compostable K-cups.

"It brews fantastic!" Dutrumble said.

Craftsman Cliff's roasts the coffee in Norwich, mails it fresh to West Virginia. Within two days, 12-pack boxes arrive back in Norwich.

The boxes are sold at retail stores for $12.99. "That is absolutely competitive with any K-cups," Dutrumble said.

Scott N. Longley, manufacturing expert-in-residence for FORGE, and FORGE senior vice president Adam Rodrigues came to Norwich to meet with Kevin Brown, president of the Norwich Community Development Corp., as FORGE prepared for its Connecticut launch. The three had lunch at La Stella's Pizzeria and stopped in at Craftsman Cliff, a block away.

"Walking up to Craftsman, the smell of the freshly roasted coffee was amazing," Longley said in an email to The Day. "I bought a couple of bags of beans to try, and the coffee was world class. When I found out Craftsman made their own K-Cups and these K-Cups were compostable, it was a no-brainer to want to include them in our gift bags for our launch, which features Connecticut-made products. The Craftsman Cliff Roaster story itself is an amazing one as well."

On Monday, FORGE CT will host a launch party from 2 to 5 p.m. at Trinity Innovations Center on Constitution Plaza in Hartford. Five Connecticut startups will make two-minute pitches to a three-judge panel to try to win a $40,000 grant to help them start production. A dozen more startup businesses will display their ideas to compete for the audience choice grant.

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