William & Sons Coffee Co. now open in Manchester
While living in Brazil with his wife, Patty, Jonathan Hutchins became interested in the world of specialty coffee. He opened a small boutique roaster in the southeastern city of Porto Alegre, with the mission to bring the hard work of coffee farmers harvesting high-quality beans to the forefront. William & Sons Coffee Co., named after Hutchins’ father, was born.
“My dad didn’t work with coffee, but he was just an inspiration for me to start the company, and so that was how we came up with the brand name,” Hutchins said.
Fast forward to 2021 and Hutchins, a Maine native, found himself returning home to New England. By the end of that year he would launch a small roasting lab in the town of Loudon.
Around that time Hutchins became connected with the owner of Mi Vida Cafe, formerly located at the intersection of Amory and Laval streets. When that shop closed and the space became available, Hutchins saw a unique opportunity.
On May 12, William & Sons Coffee Co. opened a retail location where its own roasted coffees sourced from multiple growing regions around the world are available hot and iced, in addition to a selection of teas and a small offering of baked goods like muffins and cinnamon rolls. Hutchins continues to operate out of his Loudon facility, where all his beans are still roasted.
“We weren’t really planning on opening up a shop,” he said, “but I had met a lot of the neighbors in the area here on the West Side, and it’s just an incredible community with amazing people. … I kind of liked doing that model versus putting something on Elm Street.”
Hutchins is a certified Q grader, or a licensed specialty coffee tasting professional as recognized by the Coffee Quality Institute. He sources his beans from as far away as African countries like Kenya and nations like Papua New Guinea, each unique for their own tasting notes.
“We have a lot of farmer friends in Brazil,” he said. “I have contacts with importers, and I do direct trade with some Brazilian farmers. … To start off our shop, we have a good friend of ours in Brazil who actually sent us 40 pounds of green coffee just to have for the inauguration, so that’s been kind of special. That’s our espresso that we’re using right now, and we’ll have other different coffees that we feature from different parts of the world in the future.”
William & Sons offers a full line of hot and iced coffees, with a variety of different roast styles. Hutchins said the “more fruit-forward” tastes of a super light roasted coffee are among the shop’s specialties, which he said are meant to showcase its origins. Coffee drinks can be made with whole milk, oat milk or half-and-half, in addition to several optional flavor shots and sweeteners.
Other options include freshly brewed teas, as well as some other specialty drinks from hot chocolates to iced mochas and bubble teas. Hutchins also produces a small selection of baked goods out of his Loudon roasting facility, like cinnamon rolls, muffins and brownies.
In the few weeks that Hutchins has been open for business, he said, the West Side community has welcomed him with open arms. You can’t miss the unique chocolate brown-colored building on the street corner — coffee lovers have already made it their new home to work on their laptops, in addition to many others that use it as a pit stop for their morning’s cup of joe.
“We’ve got like 10 or 15 people that have come in every single day since we’ve opened, and it’s just been really fun meeting a lot of different people every day,” Hutchins said.
William & Sons Coffee Co.
Where: 489 Amory St., Manchester
Hours: Monday through Friday, 6 a.m. to 2 p.m., and Saturday, 8 a.m. to 4 p.m. Closed on Sundays.
More info: Visit wsonscoffee.com, or find them on Facebook and Instagram
Featured photo: William & Sons Coffee Co. Photo by Emma Catherine Photography.
