As the country celebrated National Coffee Day on Monday, the smell of freshly roasted coffee beans was overpowering at the Martin Coffee Company’s headquarters in Jacksonville.
The company was founded here in 1957, and has been roasting and distributing coffee in-house ever since. Located on Marshall Street near EverBank Field, they also supply coffee for many local restaurants.
Martin Coffee Company has constantly changed through the years to keep up with current coffee trends. Vice president Harold Johnson said people aren’t drinking just coffee and tea anymore.
“We do an espresso roast, so it’s a real dark roast, and used to be that was just made to use in espresso machines, for a shot of espresso,” he said. “But now people will drink this coffee just like regular coffee!”
Johnson said that the coffee industry has changed because younger people don’t drink coffee as much as they used to. He said that options like tea and water are now favored more.
“Iced tea sales have really picked up, and that has really cut the consumption of coffee drinkers,” said Johnson.
Today, Johnson said that flavored coffees are getting more popular, with just about any flavor combination being possible to make thanks to special blends and flavored syrups.
As for National Coffee Day, several national chains gave away free coffee throughout the day Monday. So if you’re a coffee drinker, drink up and celebrate.
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