The smell of freshly roasted coffee beans wafts through the air as Vertere Coffee Roasters’ owner Steve Criswell prepares to roast another batch at his Porter shop.
Vertere Coffee Roasters opened in 2014 at 22289 Ford Road, Suite 200, across from Porter Elementary, after receiving a positive reception of his initial product samples and finding the perfect location to open the shop.
“At the beginning of 2012, I was laid off from my job in packaging material sales. After almost a two-year job search with many ups and downs, it became clear to me one Sunday in my church in 2013 that coffee was my path forward as a new career,” said Criswell. “I knew that coffee would provide for my family and potentially for the families of others who would work for our company, thus, Vertere Coffee Roasters was born. Vertere is a Latin word meaning ‘to turn,’ as in ‘to turn the page.’ This name seemed fitting, as I was turning a page in my own life toward a new career that would in turn help people turn the page on their own coffee experience.”
After transforming the space into a shop for Vertere Coffee Roasters, the new roaster arrived and was installed that July, and in August 2014, Criswell began the real process of roasting and selling coffee to all those who wanted to experience fresh, locally-roasted coffee.
“We want to be known as the go-to coffee resource in the Kingwood, Humble, Atascocita, Porter and New Caney areas, as well as to have a presence in Houston and nationally through online mail-order,” said Criswell. “We sell a wide variety of freshly-roasted, single-origin, blended and flavored coffee, specialty loose tea, and personal brewing equipment and supplies for home and office coffee enthusiasts. We also have a growing network of commercial customers in these areas, helping them with equipment, coffee and training needs.”
Vertere Coffee is available to customers in a variety of ways that is convenient for them. For some customers, that is by mail-order; for some, it is home or office delivery. Customers can also stop by the roastery in Porter to pick something freshly roasted and visit about coffee.
“We always enjoy hearing how our customers experience coffee as a routine or special part of their day,” said Criswell. “Some are just beginning their journey, while others are well down the road, fine-tuning their brewing methods and coffee preferences. For each of these customer needs, Vertere is eager and pleased to help.”
Since the time of the initial equipment installation in August 2014, Vertere has made many improvements to workflow such as the addition of storage capacity, production tools, an espresso machine and other brewing equipment, and a more automated packaging machine for large bag and pouch orders.
In 2020, during the COVID-19 pandemic and uncertainty, Vertere took a bold step to expand its building space to double its warehouse, even though business was down. With this increased warehouse space, Vertere split its footprint into production space and warehouse space, enabling a more streamlined and efficient production workflow and inventory tracking capability. In uncertain times, Vertere wanted to increase its preparedness to fulfill new service models and increases in its retail business.
“We have always been there to support our customers, and our current expansion positions Vertere to support them in an even greater way,” said Criswell. “We will always have our eye on improvements as they make sense, and Vertere will continue making operational investments to make tasks easier and safer for our employees and to improve the quality of our products and services.”
Also new to Vertere Coffee Roasters is the addition of several coffees such as a single estate coffee from Colombia; a Barrel-Aged Series, which is Arabica coffee aged for several weeks in oak barrels previously used to manufacture premium American bourbon whiskey; and the Texas Independence Series, coffee with fresh, fighting spirit.
“We want to grow our brand, and we realize that growth depends on satisfying the coffee needs of our customers. The Vertere brand represents quality, community and positive change,” said Criswell. “We want to continue doing what we are doing: Roasting fresh coffee in the best way possible, connecting with others who love great coffee and bringing the two together to make Vertere a place you can count on for great coffee from around the coffee world.”
For more information, visit https://verterecoffee.com/.
