Perc Coffee: An Insight to Savannah
Iron fences and faded pastels of painted walls of homes lined the street. A dog barked as we crossed the cracked street toward a rusted old building of which most windows were either missing or broken, a faded sign above reading Old Pine Laundry. We had little idea of we were looking for on the end of East Broad Street near Victory, only that we were out to find a true view into Savannah. We continued around the corner where another, newer, sign read ‘Perc Coffee’. Though not the cleanest appearing from the outside, the familiar scent of coffee wafts out onto the street, pulling and inviting us in. Upon entering we are confronted by large wooden table with an array of scientific looking equipment and large burlap sacks of beans upon the floor. In the back sits a lone middle aged women with blond hair sitting at slightly out of place office desk. She greets us promptly introduces herself as Nancy and seems thrilled at having visitors on a mid-Wednesday. She listens intently as we tell her that we are SCAD students and of our anthropological study. She swiftly agrees to give us permission to study the site and hands us a brown business card of Phillip Brown, her husband and owner of Perc.
We then made an appointment with Philip Brown to sit down and talk to him about his backstory, placement of the Perc Coffee, and about the Savannah itself. Sitting down with Philip Brown, a surprisingly loose, dark haired man with the makings of beard, we began the talk and went through his backstory. Like many, Brown tried many jobs, from selling records for a record store, working at a video store, and being dishwasher. Yet none of these were speaking to him as a career and as he said “I don’t like boring jobs.” Beside all these small jobs Brown had had deep running love for music and once toured with his band the Summer Hymns. Little did he know that his love for music would lead him to his passion for coffee.
Brown walked into a local coffee shop with nothing in mind other than getting some coffee, however mind changed once he stepped inside. A relaxing environment with musicians playing in the shop. Without a second thought, Brown quickly asked for a job and that’s where our story starts in his love for coffee. As time pasted Brown became more and more intrigued in the coffee. How was it made, where did it come from, how many different kinds of coffee were there? These questions were soon answered by the store owner who took Brown under his wing as a coffee apprentice and soon Brown was brewing his own blends for the store. Years past and Brown had moved his way up in the coffee store chain, but now in his 30s, he just couldn’t see himself as a just the manager of a coffee shop. Brown had found his new passion and knew he had what it took to take it one step further. He quit and went down the road to start his own coffee shop and let his passion for coffee lead him. Brown toured South America, found growers and and fueled his dream for it was his new passion and he said “I know I wanted to do something I was passionate about.” However he was still in need of store front. As fate would have it he meet a man named Ramse, who owns a refurbishing shop, at party. As it turned out Ramse was looking for a renter in one the buildings in. Thus, Perc was born.
The History of Coffee
We then turned our attention then onto the coffee itself. Ever more curious about the heaps of burlap bags upon the floor with with ‘Perc’ hastily written across them. Brown tackled this question by first educating us in the history of coffee. As we learned, all coffee originated in Ethiopia and was sent from a port on the Red Sea called Mocha, of which we get the infamous drink name, to South America where it evolved into many strings of bean types. Brown then went back to talking about the time he spent in South American. He went to individual farmers and spoke with them about their bean genius or history. Motioning to the bags to our right he informed us that his current beans come straight from the growers in about five different countries worldwide including Mexico, Costa Rica, San Salvador, Ethiopia and Brazil. Personally we found this particular point compelling, as Brown took us over and showed us the small green beans of before the roasting process. He let us dip our hands in one of the open sacks, a thrilling experience when we considered that these had been mostly hand picked only a week or so prior, millions of miles away.
With the beans backstory ‘in the bag’ we inquired as to the final destination of the beans once Brown and his co workers roasted them. Brown told us that since its foundation Perc has served many in the vast city of Savannah Georgia. What the coffee shop brews is shipped to many stores around Savannah that both locals and tourists alike know. From Foxy Loxy, and Butterhead Greens, to GA Byrd Cookie Company. As a SCAD student we we both highly familiar with the a multitude of the shops listed, of which we passed nearly everyday on our way to class. Over all Perc Coffee sends there special blends to over 56 different shops. Even to few other states such as North and South Carolina. This alone seemed a staggering fact about all that flowed from the small corner building we were sitting in, yet again we were in for a surprise. Brown also spoke about local events the company was involved in from the food and wine festival to local fairs. One of the great events of the fall season Perc is involved in is GeekEnd, a technology expo taking place in place in building right outside the SCAD freshman dorms. Not only does Perc serve coffee to thirsty expo goers, but helps sponsor the event as well.
We concluded our interview with Brown with a tour of the facility. We began with a large metal roaster in the rear then headed over to their ‘test’ station. This was a long table where Brown and his employees drank test batches of new blends from beaker like instruments we saw on our first visit. Brown told us that this equipment not only helped with making of blends, but kept things from getting ‘boring’. He continued to tell us that they personally train every individual who is going to make their coffee at a at another location. Though small right now, Brown said he is looking to expand and form a training center and, possibly, a brew room where they can make cold coffee which, similar to beer, must sit in a controlled environment. We thanked Brown thoroughly and took our leave.
With our newly discovered information we decided visited the Foxy Loxy Cafe to see for ourselves Perc’s coffee blends in action. To our surprise, not only was it in action, but the Perc Coffee special blend bags packed the shelves of the store and flyers listing their company information and activities. We then moved to interviewing people in the coffee shop to gain insight about their Perc knowledge.The people of whom we interviewed had no idea where the coffee came from and was interested to learn that it that the coffee in the local town of Savannah Georgia was shipped to such a diverse amount of places.The first people we interviewed was a local SCAD student and a middle aged man. They were not drinking coffee at the time, by said they preferred the mocha and were intrigued how their small town cafe connected them directly to South American growers. The last person we interviewed was drinking a hardy ‘eye opener’ coffee of which he normally buys at the Coffee Fox. Similar the the first pair, he had little idea where his product came from or how it was produced. He was quickly enthralled when we informed him that not only was his drink at both at Foxy Loxy and the Coffee Fox both brewed by Perc right down the road, but that every bean came straight from individual farmers themselves.
An interview with a fox
A question for the lox
In the end going in with empty minds made us came out of with a new found respect for coffee and the people that brew. The hidden jewel of Perc Coffee and its owner Philip Brown provided us with an joyfully unexpected peek into the life blood of Savannah city goers and connections to people oceans away.
