CHEBOYGAN — As part of Cheboygan’s ongoing effort to develop its downtown, Cheboygan Coffee Roasters officially opened on Sunday, Aug. 28, with the goal of bringing quality, in-house roasted coffee to Cheboygan.
Jane and Jeff Cutter moved to Cheboygan from New Hampshire after purchasing the building on the corner of 232 N. Main St. Over the next two years, they worked to remodel the 1950s-era building, adding new features as they went like a walk-up window on Division Street.
When they first bought the building, the Cutters weren’t sure what they wanted to do with it. Jane said her initial idea was to sell kitchen supplies, but during the pandemic the couple honed in on what they wanted to do and settled on coffee roasting.
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“Originally, I wanted more retail and much more of a kitchen spot, but we really honed in and said, ‘Let's go for it and let's invest in a really nice roaster,’” Jane said. “Which we had built from scratch out of Oklahoma City. It’s the most environmentally friendly roaster in the world right now. There's only four in operation.”
Jeff and his son Brody studied coffee roasting in New Hampshire and Maine and Jeff later attended Vermont Coffee School to learn the mechanics and chemistry side of roasting.
The couple’s older son, Ian, runs the kitchen making their specialty hand pies. Smaller and more portable than pasties, the hand pies include flavors from all over the world with tikka masala, spinach and feta, Jamaican meat pies, shrimp creole and the American cheeseburger. They also have sweet hand pies available.
Other food will be available like a seafood chowder, an homage to Molly Malone Steakhouse and Irish Pub, the restaurant the family owned in New Hampshire for 15 years. The chowder recipe won the Seafood Chowder Festival 12 years in a row and now the recipe will serve as a call to the family’s East Coast roots.
The coffee itself focuses on three roasts: morning blend Huron Sunrise, medium dark Tall Tale and dark roast The Straights. The labels on the coffee bags are based on vintage postcards of Cheboygan and The Straights label is a painting of the Mackinac Bridge by local artist Amanda Bur.
The decor is also inspired by vintage Cheboygan. Jane, who is originally from Monroe, said that during the 1958 Mackinac Bridge dedication, all 83 Michigan counties were represented by a queen riding in a white convertible. Jane’s mom was the queen for Monroe County and saved the car’s license plate, several Cheboygan Daily Tribune articles about the dedication and the itinerary of the day's events, all of which are now hung up in the back of Cheboygan Coffee Roasters for customers to view.
“I was really just taken with all of the volunteerism in this little community to try to bring this town back and I came out and visited and I just fell in love with everything that everybody's trying to do," Jane said. “My husband and I felt like we had one more project in us, we’re nearing 60 years old and we just really, really, really wanted to be a part of bringing Cheboygan back. So that's why we decided to invest in this building and do what we're doing.”
While Jane has returned to her home state, Jeff, who grew up in Portsmouth, New Hampshire, has left his. He said that while the topography of Northern Michigan feels a lot like home, he does miss the seafood that comes with living near the Atlantic Ocean. Aside from that, he has come to love Northern Michigan and its people.
“When I grew up in the area, there was always a sense of community. As of the last 10 years, everything has gotten bought up and we've lost our community for a lot of it,” Jeff said. “So coming here, the community just tugged at my heart because everybody's so supportive and I feel like I'm part of a true community again. Everybody we’ve spoken to here is so helpful and so nice. And I feel like I'm (in) a hometown community again.”