Inside the new Odysea Coffee Roasters cafe in Bristol, New Hampshire. All images courtesy of Odysea Coffee Roasters.
With its first cafe now open in Bristol, New Hampshire, Odysea Coffee Roasters is connecting one of its founder’s roots in Honduras to another founder’s roots in New England.
Occupying a 1950s car dealership building in the scenic central New Hampshire town, the 2,500-square-foot cafe was built out under the direction of Rick Duba, a partner in the business and father to co-founder Gabrielle Duba. Meanwhile, the parents of the other Odysea co-founder, Francisco Galeano, operate a nearly 200-acre farm in Honduras.
Odysea Co-Founders Gabrielle Duba and Francisco Galeano.
That coffee connection culminates in a space that blends modern and traditional aesthetics, including exposed original trusses, refurbished marble table tops and natural wood throughout.
“[Rick Duba] learned to build from his father, through the extensive renovation of his own home and other multi-family homes,” Gabrielle Duba recently told Daily Coffee News. “He took on the building project, essentially rebuilding from the ground up. One of our goals in renovating was to keep the historic charm of the building, while making it functional and keeping the concept clean and bright.”
Inside the shop, coffees from the Galeano family farm and neighboring farms in Honduras feature prominently. Francisco Galeano and his brother, Daniel Galeano, are also the owners of Galeano Coffee, a farm-to-cup coffee company with 13 locations in Honduras.
“In the U.S., specialty coffee is growing really fast. In New Hampshire, it just started to grow. There’s not necessarily specialty coffee every place you go,” Francisco Galeano told DCN. “In Honduras, just in the capital city, there’s more than 100 specialty coffee shops. Most of the baristas either have been on a coffee farm, or their family has been on coffee farming, so they know about coffee, and you find so many good coffees. Right now, here, the baristas still need to know a lot about coffee.”
In Honduras, Galeano Coffee roasts on a 6-kilo Mill City Roasters machine as well as a 10-kilo Garanti roaster. In a dedicated facility in Bristol, Odysea roasts on another 6-kilo Mill City machine. Coffees arrive through green coffee companies such as Atlas Coffee Importers and Honduras-based Cima Cafe.
In both countries espresso programs center on SanRemo espresso machines and Compak grinders paired with Compak Cube auto-tampers. An onsite bakery at Odysea turns out fresh daily scones, croissants, eclairs, pumpkin rolls and more.
Some of the food items in Bristol, like a chimichurri, salsas and some spicy sausages, reflect the connection to Honduras.
“Every day is different. Sometimes I actually get surprised when I come to the shop and there’s something new,” said Galeano. “We have a really good team. They actually love what they do, and we give them the opportunity to be creative.”
An expanded tapas, wine and cocktail program called Odysea After Hours is slated to roll out this fall.
While connecting guests to Honduras via coffee and food, the company also offers to transport guests literally through guided tours and travel packages. Odysea-curated travel may take guests to cafes, restaurants and coffee farms, plus national parks and historic sites.
“We’ve hosted a couple trips in the past years since opening Odysea and are looking forward to taking more and more people to the source,” Gabrielle Duba said. “These trips are meant to connect people not just with our producers, but also with the culture.”
With the cafe now up and running, and the roasting side of the business approaching its third year, expansion in its wholesale program will become a focal point. Galeano said he hopes more sales can lead to stronger and longer-term commitments with dedicated coffee producers, who might in turn be more willing to experiment with post-harvest processing or other quality-focused investments.
“[They] can start experimenting — do naturals, double fermentation, anaerobic — if they know that somebody is going to buy it for the right price,” Galeano said. “That’s what we want to do with the farmers we’re working with, farmers that really want change. They really are interested in new methods, and they care about the coffee. And that includes my parents.”
Odysea Coffee Roasters is located at 265 Lake St in Bristol, New Hampshire. Tell DCN’s editors about your new coffee shop or roastery here.
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Howard Bryman
Howard Bryman is the associate editor of Daily Coffee News by Roast Magazine. He is based in Portland, Oregon.
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