House Brew Founder Manning Bergeron, business partner Samm Clark and Smokey Bean Roasting Founder Joe Foster. All images courtesy of House Brew / Smoky Bean.
A coffee house is now a home to two businesses in Baton Rouge, Louisiana, as House Brew and Smoky Bean Roasting Co. are now sharing a roof, as well as many of the daily chores.
The House Brew coffee shop, where Smoky Beans roasts on site, opened just one block away from the Mississippi River in downtown Baton Rouge in December, offering a walk-up window or indoor seating, including small tables and chairs as well as a red bench made from a reclaimed wooden door.
The space is roughly divided in half between the bar and the roastery, with mellow lamp lighting illuminating coffee jute sacks lining the ceiling. A vintage-diner-like black-and-white checkered floor and additional second-hand furniture add to the shop’s approachable charm.
“We live in an age of information. I think the consumer should get as much information as possible. The issue is that a lot of customers can just get overloaded with that, and it can be a little overwhelming at times,” Smoky Bean Roasting Founder Joe Foster told Daily Coffee News. “We just wanted it to be as warm and inviting as possible. We want to make this a not-intimidating space for people who want to come and enjoy coffee or learn more about coffee.”
In addition to brews served au naturel, the House Brew team keeps things fresh and fun with specialty drinks such as a Toasted Marshmallow Latte and a Bananas Foster Latte. The latter, created by Foster, of course, features banana and caramel flavors added to espresso with a brulée-style torched sugar topping.
A side-by-side pair of Lelit Bianca prosumer espresso machines form the 2-group setup behind the bar, supported by a Bunn grinder that also breaks beans for drip coffee brews and Toddy full-immersion brews.
Several days per week on the other side of the room, the Aillio Bullet roaster at the heart of Smoky Bean turns out a stream of fresh roasts in full view of customers. Foster said a second Bullet is on the way, with a 10-kilo or larger commercial roaster farther on the horizon.
Foster finds greens from the nearby New Orleans warehouse of importer InterAmerican Coffee, while buying smaller quantities from home roasting supply specialist Sweet Maria’s.
Both businesses were launched around the same time in early 2024, with Smoky Bean Roasting selling coffees directly online and at events, as well as supplying roasts for pop-ups operated by House Brew, which was created by Manning Bergeron. In April, 2024 Samm Clark came aboard as a co-owner and partner in both companies, pitching in on roasting, social media and administrative tasks. A long-term House Brew pop-up inside Baton Rouge cocktail bar Pelican To Mars kicked off last June.
“We’ve just been working together for a really long time,” Foster said of the business partnership. “We really trust and love each other, so there’s just a great deal of cooperation and symbiosis that’s happening between our two businesses, and Manning and I.”
While Foster and Manning both chip in with various duties around the shop — Foster working shifts at the bar, for example, or Manning assisting with production tasks — House Brew and Smoky Bean will continue to grow as separate entities. A third business — a media company called Digital Knomad — is also closely tied to the two coffee companies.
“[Bergeron] can focus on House Brew affairs and the customer and cafe experience, and on the Smoky Bean side, I can focus on selecting coffees and making sure 24/7 we have a quality, delicious product,” said Foster. “[The plan] is to really just ingrain ourselves further in the Baton Rouge and southern Louisiana coffee culture, and continue to make names for ourselves and watch both these operations flourish.”
[Editor’s note: This story has been updated since its original publication. The original version did not accurately describe the ownership structure of the coffee companies.
House Brew and Smoky Bean are co-located at 227 Florida Blvd. in Baton Rouge. Comments? Questions? News to share? Contact DCN’s editors here. For all the latest coffee industry news, subscribe to the DCN newsletter.
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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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