The Story Behind the Beans: This coffee contains no lobster and no butter, which has led many people to ask over the years: what exactly is going on here? Here’s what we know for sure: back in the early 2000s, John was roasting in a garage on a tiny seven-pound machine, bagging, printing, and hustling one bag at a time like a man trying to will a career as a coffee entrepreneur into existence.
One key move on the road to traction, and street cred: convince Eve (beloved Ann Arbor restaurant, force-of-nature human behind it) to sell his coffee. At the staff cupping, one server kept saying, “It tastes like butter.” On the bike ride home, John turned the words over until they became a chant, then a rhythm, then the only possible name: butter, butter, butter, lobster butter, Lobster Butter Love. Three words, perfect together. It sounded rich, strange, and inevitable, like the coffee had always already been waiting for the words to catch up.
For a while, the same coffee lived two lives: Eve’s Blend in small restaurant batches, and Lobster Butter Love for everyone to buy (albeit without its distinctive visual look). The red lobster came later by way of Barbados, a bathroom wall, a BlackBerry photo, a car sales desk sketch, and a linoleum block. Once the lobster hit the bag, the RoosRoast formula snapped into place: smooth coffee, improbable yet memorable name, handmade art, made possible by relentless hustle and investing in real, deep local relationships.
